


A Darker Beginning

by JasonMorganfan87



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Angst, Bad Adam and Eve, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s04e04 All About Eve, Eventual Deckerstar, Evil Adam, F/M, Family, Gen, Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV) Needs A Hug, Non-Consensual Touching, Oblivious Eve, Past Rape/Non-con, Protective Chloe Decker, Protective God, angry god
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:20:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 18
Words: 34,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25101535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JasonMorganfan87/pseuds/JasonMorganfan87
Summary: What if the story between Adam and Eve and Lucifer was much different than anyone knew? The story was darker than anyone, even God knows. Lucifer isn't so happy when Eve returns to his life. He finds himself reliving a living nightmare he hoped to forget. Will he survive his haunting memories? How will everyone react when they learn the truth. Story will contain past sexual Abuse
Relationships: Chloe Decker/Lucifer Morningstar
Comments: 277
Kudos: 1168





	1. Chapter 1

Lucifer felt a shiver go down his spine when he saw her. She was just feet away from him dancing in his club, and it made him sick to his stomach. He didn't want her there. He never thought he'd see her again, and he was glad for that fact. But here she was. Part of his living worst nightmare had returned. Eve was back.

Lucifer remembered Eve like he'd met her yesterday. She wasn't the first human he met like most thought. That would be _him_. Even speaking his name made Lucifer sick to his stomach. Meeting him had been the worst thing to ever happen to Lucifer. You would think that would be his fall, but it wasn't. It was… _that_.

_Flashback_

_Samael knew he should not be going into the Garden. His father had forbid it since he first created the two humans who resided there, but he was curious. His father cared for his new creation so much, to the point where he didn't really spend a lot of time with the rest of them anymore. Samael wanted to know what was so special about them. They must be able to do something great if his father was so proud of them._

_Samael ventured through the Garden for several minutes. He didn't see anyone anywhere. He was almost ready to give up and go back when he heard a voice._

" _Hello," a voice called out._

_Samael turned around to see a man behind him. He looked much like Samael himself, only without wings, and the man looked older than him, though Samael knew he wasn't older. He didn't look like he was anything special. "Hello."_

_The man smiled and walked towards him. "You must be an angel."_

" _Archangel," Samael said proudly. There was a difference, and Samael would make this being knew it."_

" _You're cute," the man said._

" _You look like us," Samael commented._

" _Oh, I don't know. I don't have these pretty wings," he said as he reached over and ran a hand through his feathers._

_Samael immediately took a step back, feeling uncomfortable. No one was supposed to touch an angel's wings. Well, his mother or father could, but when they did it, it was to groom them, or heal them if they were hurt. The way this man touched them was different. It felt wrong. "Don't do that."_

" _What's your name. I'm Adam."_

" _S…Samael," he said._

" _Samael. I think your father mentioned you once. You're his favorite. I can see why. You're beautiful," Adam said as he advanced on him._

_Samael continued to back up. He didn't know what this man wanted, but he felt he had bad intentions._

" _If you hurt me, your father will be angry with you. If you run, I'll tell him you were here, and he'll be angry," Adam said._

_Samael felt trapped. Both those things were true. His father had already said that he wouldn't allow harm to come to his new creation, and he'd also told them to stay out of the Garden. Samael was in a lot of trouble right now._

" _You and I are going to get along great, Samael," Adam said as he reached his hand back into his wings._

_Samael tried to pull away, but Adam had grabbed his arm with his free hand, holding him in place. By the time it was over, Samael would regret ever coming into the Garden._

_Flashback_

Lucifer shivered as he remembered the past. That had only been the first of many nightmarish incidents with Adam, and later with Eve. Adam knew how to control him. He made sure Lucifer believed that what happened was his fault, and he'd told him his father would believe the same. He'd gotten Lucifer to keep coming back by telling him that he would tell his father, and that his father would take Adam's side. Lucifer had believed him.

Lucifer was pulled out of his thoughts as Eve walked towards him. He immediately stepped back. He didn't want her near him. Her role wasn't as prominent as Adam's, but she still hurt him, and he wanted nothing to do with her. "Wh…What are you doing here?"

"Hey. I thought I'd come see you," Eve said as she went to touch him.

"Don't!" Lucifer said as he stepped back and unconsciously pulled his robe closed. He really wished he'd gotten dressed when he came downstairs, but he wasn't planning on running into _her._

"What's wrong?" Eve asked.

Lucifer could hardly believe she could even ask that given all that had happened. He knew she'd always been pretty oblivious, but did she really not understand why he wouldn't want her near him?

Lucifer wanted to get away from Eve, but he supposed he did need to know why she was on Earth and how she got there, and he couldn't have that conversation with her in the middle of LUX. As much as it filled him with bile, he had to take her upstairs. "Come with me."

"Sure," Eve said with a smile.

Lucifer led her to the elevator and to the penthouse. Once they were inside, Lucifer headed for his bedroom. He was not willing to have any type of conversation with Eve in his robe and boxers. "Wait here."

Once in his bedroom, Lucifer locked the door, just in case Eve tried to follow him. He grabbed some pants and a dress shirt and began getting dressed. His hands made it difficult, as they were shaking. He hated that. He was not that same boy that Adam and Eve harmed. He had no reason to be afraid. He supposed it wasn't fear he felt. It was revulsion.

Once he was dressed, Lucifer sat on his bed to try to compose himself before forcing himself to go out to the living room.

"I liked you better the way you were," Eve said.

Lucifer barely managed to choke down the bile that made its way to his throat. "Why are you here, Eve? How did you get here?"

"Well, I found a way to leave Heaven. It was way too boring up there. Adam's gotten so dull, so I left him," she said.

"So, he's still there?" Lucifer asked hopefully. While it was difficult, he could handle Eve. He wasn't sure he could handle seeing Adam. Let him stay in Heaven. It sickened him that people like Adam and Eve could make it into Heaven. It was proof that the system was deeply flawed. The only thing you needed to get into Heaven was lack of guilt. It didn't surprise him that Adam had none. As for Eve, she probably thought she'd done nothing wrong. Adam told her it was okay after all.

"Yeah. We drifted apart," Eve said.

Lucifer listened to her rattle on about Adam and Heaven for a few minutes. Well, he was half listening anyway. Most of him was focusing on not emptying the contents of his stomach onto the floor. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. "Why are you here, Eve?"

"I told you," Eve said.

"No, why did you come here, to my club," Lucifer asked. He refused to believe that she ended up here by accident. He knew she didn't. She came to see him. He wanted to know why, and then he wanted her gone. He wanted her to disappear from his life again, so that he could go back to pretending she didn't exist.

"Well, I figured that we had a lot of fun before and we could…"

"Fun?" Lucifer asked in disbelief, almost as if he'd never heard the concept before. "You think that was at all fun for me?!"

"Yeah. Wasn't it?" Eve asked.

Lucifer couldn't even respond. He'd already come to the conclusion that Eve didn't think what she did was wrong, but he found it astounding that she actually thought he enjoyed what they did to him. "You need to leave…"

"But, Luce…"

"No! I will call you a ride and have you taken to the nearest hotel. I will even give you money to pay for it, but you need to go. And tomorrow, you need to leave LA and never come back. I don't want to see you again," Lucifer said.

Eve looked hurt by his words. "You don't mean that."

"What you did was not fun for me, Eve! It was Hell! And I've been to the actual place of Hell. It has nothing on you and Adam! I want you gone," Lucifer said before taking out his phone to get her a ride. He needed her gone as soon as possible. If he thought he could stomach touching her, he'd fly her to the other side of the world.


	2. Chapter 2

It turned out sending Eve away was not as easy as Lucifer hoped. He'd tried to get her a ride, but the driver had shown up and attacked them. Someone was after some sort of necklace and thought Eve had it.

Lucifer was more than a little tempted to let Eve fend for herself. Her mess shouldn't be his problem, but he knew she would not leave him alone until this was over. She'd already begged over and over for his help. He doubted it would stop there. So, he made a deal with her. He would get her out of this and she would leave LA permanently.

After finding out that the man who last had the necklace Eve was attacked over was dead, Lucifer took her to meet with the detective. He was hoping she could help him with this problem. He didn't particularly want to see the detective, given her recent betrayal, but she could help him wrap this up quickly and get Eve out of his life faster. While it would be uncomfortable and strained, he could handle seeing the detective. He didn't know how much longer he could stomach being in Eve's presence.

"So, what are we doing here?" Eve asked as she grabbed on to Lucifer's arm with both hands.

Lucifer immediately pulled his arm away from her. "Keeping your hands off my person was part of our deal! We're here to see a police detective. She can help clear this mess up. And remember, you're to leave town the moment it's over."

"I don't understand why my being here is such a problem for you," Eve said.

Lucifer chose not to respond to that. It was clear to him that nothing was going to make Eve believe that what she'd done to him had been wrong. She was worse than Adam in her own way. Adam was much more brutal and cold with him, but at least he didn't act like what he did was alright. He simply didn't care how wrong it was. That was certainly bad enough, but Lucifer found that Eve believing what they did was okay made it even worse. She acted like they were in some sort of relationship, instead of him being their victim.

Lucifer led the way into the police station. He looked around and spotted the detective at her desk. Taking a deep breath, he made his way over to her.

Chloe looked up after feeling a presence by her desk. She looked up and was shocked to see Lucifer there with a woman. After their last conversation, she didn't think she'd be seeing him much. He'd kind of made it clear to her that he was done with her. She couldn't exactly blame him for that. "Lucifer. What are you doing here? I didn't think you'd be back."

"I wasn't planning on it. Unfortunately, I need your help with something," Lucifer said.

At that moment, Eve stepped forward a bit and placed a hand on Lucifer's shoulder. "Hi. You must be Lucifer's detective friend."

Chloe watched as Lucifer quickly moved out of the woman's reach. He came over and stood by the side of Chloe's desk instead of right in front of it, which was strange for Lucifer. She didn't really have time to think about it though. She recognized the woman from a video she'd seen of her murder victim. "I've seen you before. You were one of the last people to see my murder victim alive."

"Pablo. I didn't have anything to do with that, and I don't know what happened to the necklace people are looking for either," Eve said.

"That's why we're here, Detective. I realize this will be awkward, but I'm trying to retrieve this necklace so that Eve can be on her way without fear," Lucifer said. Once again, he wondered why he was helping Eve when he couldn't care less what was done to her, but again, he decided that it was the best way to get rid of her. Once he helped her, she could just go. Short of turning her over to those who might hurt her, which he was reluctant to do even after what she did to him, he saw no other option.

Chloe continued to look at the woman. "Your name is Eve."

"Uh huh. Lucifer and I go way back. Farther back than anyone can go," Eve said.

Chloe looked between Lucifer and Eve. "We're not talking about _the_ Eve, are we? As in the first woman to exist. Your ex-girlfriend, Lucifer?"

"No!" Lucifer snapped immediately. "She was _not_ my girlfriend!"

"Oh, I just kind of assumed that the whole forbidden fruit thing was a metaphor," Chloe said.

"It was," Eve confirmed.

"Will you help, Detective? I assure you, I won't bother you again afterwards," Lucifer said.

"Uh, first I need to ask Eve here some questions about her interactions with Pablo. You'll have to come with me, Eve," Chloe said.

"Sure," Eve said.

Chloe stood up and led her towards the interrogation rooms.

Lucifer, meanwhile, began to relax out of Eve's presence. At least he'd get a few moments away from her.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

About an hour later, Lucifer found himself by the vending machines. He was growing more antsy by the moment. They weren't getting anywhere with Pablo's killer or the necklace. Perhaps he was being impatient, as it had only been an hour, but he was anxious for this to be over.

Eve continued to inflict herself on Lucifer. She kept breaking his touching rule. He really shouldn't be surprised. It wasn't as if she'd ever respected his boundaries in the past.

As if on cue, Lucifer felt a hand on his shoulder. He immediately shook it off. "I told you not to touch…!" He stopped mid-rant when he turned around and saw that it was the detective, not Eve, that had been touching him.

Chloe put her hands up in surrender. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

"No, I apologize, Detective. I didn't know it was you," Lucifer said.

"Are you okay?" Chloe asked. He'd only been there an hour, but he had been acting very strange in that time. He seemed very uncomfortable around Eve. She kept trying to touch him and he would shy away. She had never seen him do that with a woman before. She supposed it could be bad memories of having tempted her in the Garden, but that didn't seem likely. She'd seen the look on his face when he'd look at her or when she touched him. He looked physically ill. She'd seen something like that a few times in her career, and it never meant something good.

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm not sure why you'd care though," Lucifer said bitterly.

Chloe chose to ignore his last statement. She was far too worried about him to go there. "You're not acting like yourself. You don't like Eve much, do you?"

"It doesn't matter. She'll be gone once the case was solved," Lucifer said before walking away.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Once the case was solved, Chloe returned to the precinct to tell Eve. The woman had wanted to go with her and Lucifer, but Chloe wouldn't allow it. Eve was not a cop or a consultant. She did not belong in the field. Lucifer seemed to be relieved by Chloe's decision, which further concerned her.

Chloe found Eve at her desk and approached her. "The case is solved. The Necklace was retrieved. You should be fine now."

Eve smiled. "Great. Thanks for your help. Where's Lucifer?"

"He went home," Chloe said. She got the impression Lucifer didn't want to see Eve even one more time. He relaxed much more when they were away from her. He was still somewhat tense because things weren't good between them, but he did better without Eve. "He said you'd be leaving LA. Good luck."

"Actually, I think I'll probably stay for a while," Eve said.

"I got the impression that you agreed to leave if Lucifer helped you," Chloe said. Lucifer hadn't come out and said it, but he made it clear Eve was supposed to go once this was over. It made her think that was part of the deal.

"Oh, I'm sure he didn't mean that. He was just on edge because of what was going on," Eve said.

"No, Eve, I think he did mean it, and I think you need to stay away from him," Chloe said. Her tone made it clear that it was a demand, not a suggestion.

"Oh, are you and Lucifer together now. I didn't realize," Eve said in an unhappy tone.

Chloe chose not to confirm or deny that. If thinking they were together would get Eve out of Lucifer's life, so be it. "Eve, I don't know what you did to Lucifer, but you need to leave him alone. It's clear you've done a lot of damage."

"I haven't done…"

"I've known Lucifer for over three years! I have never once seen him repulsed by a beautiful woman touching him. It had to take something awful to get that kind of reaction from him," Chloe said.

"He's just confused," Eve said.

Chloe felt sick. The more she learned of Eve, and Lucifer's reaction to her, the more certain she was that something very bad happened between them. She could even take a guess as to what it was. She didn't know how it was possible given who Lucifer was, and she hoped she was wrong, but as a cop, she'd seen all these signs before. "Stay the hell away from him. I helped you today because he asked me to, but I can easily go from helping you to hurting you. Whatever you did to Lucifer, you will not do it again."

Eve didn't respond. She looked at the woman and then walked away.


	3. Chapter 3

Chloe went to Lucifer's after wrapping up the paperwork for her case. She had two goals in mind as she got off the elevator to the penthouse. She wanted to see if there was anything she could do to help Lucifer through what he was dealing with and she wanted to see if there was any way to fix things between them.

Chloe walked through the penthouse and out to the balcony, figuring that was where she was most likely to find him when she didn't see him in the living room. She was right. She found him sitting there with a drink in his hands. "Hey."

"Detective. What are you doing here?" Lucifer asked before taking a sip of his drink.

"I thought we should talk," Chloe said.

"I'm not sure we have anything else to discuss. I appreciate you assisting me with helping Eve, but now that that's done, we should just go out separate ways," Lucifer said.

Chloe walked over and sat across from him. "I don't want to go our separate ways, Lucifer. I know that probably seems laughable to you since I did plan to send you back to Hell. I'm so sorry for that. I was afraid, and that fear let me forget my own partner. You know, I didn't go to Rome to look for a way to hurt you. I went because I wanted a reason to not believe the worst in you. I was trying to find something that would prove everything that was said about you wasn't true."

"If you wanted the truth, Detective, you only had to ask me for it. I have never lied to you," Lucifer said.

"I know, and the second Kinley tried to convince me that you'd lied to me, I should've known better. It was just really overwhelming, you know? Not just the truth about you. All of it. I never believed in God before. It was hard to deal with the fact that everything I disbelieved was actually real. Then I had your face in my head," Chloe said.

"And you were terrified of me. You can't accept me. How can I be around you if you feel that way?" Lucifer asked.

"I'm not afraid of you now. I'm sitting with you here, and I'm not even remotely frightened. But I can't say that I'm not scared when I see your face. I guess at this point, I almost feel like when I see that part of you, it's like it's someone else," Chloe told him.

"But it's not. I am the Devil," Lucifer said.

"I know. I guess I just need a little time to reconcile it all. I can, Lucifer. I won't be afraid of that side of you forever. I just need to realize that it's still you, and most of me already does. In the meantime, I don't want to lose you. Can you forgive me? Can you give me another chance?" Chloe asked.

"I don't know," Lucifer said. He wanted to. He wanted the detective's friendship and partnership back, at the very least, but he wasn't sure he could risk trusting her again.

Chloe nodded. She understood. She couldn't expect to fix things between them in one conversation, but he had not completely condemned her. She could work with that. "I get it. Will you just think about coming back to the precinct as my partner."

Lucifer nodded after a few moments. "Yes, I will think on it."

"Thanks. I really am sorry, Lucifer. I'm, I also came over to see if I could help you. I know today was hard for you. You weren't yourself," Chloe said.

Lucifer waved off her concern. "I'm fine, Detective. The case is over. I made a deal, which is now concluded. I can get back to normal."

Chloe sighed. It was obvious that Lucifer wanted to forget Eve had ever shown up. Unfortunately, Eve wasn't going to let him. "Lucifer, I don't think Eve is going to leave."

Lucifer's eyes darkened. "We made a deal!"

"I know, but, unfortunately, not everyone takes their promises as seriously as you do. Eve pretty much told me she's not gonna leave LA," Chloe said as gently as she could.

Lucifer got up and went to the edge of the balcony. He should've known Eve wouldn't hold up her end of the deal. She'd never considered anyone but herself. She certainly didn't consider him when she was forcing herself on him. What was he supposed to do. He couldn't stand so much as seeing Eve's face. He didn't want to even think about her.

"You could file a restraining order to keep her away," Chloe said.

"I'm not afraid of her," Lucifer said. He wasn't. He had no reason to fear her anymore. She couldn't hurt him the way she used to. He just didn't want her anywhere near him.

"I'm sure you're not, but you're uncomfortable around her. I think you've been clear that you don't want her around, and she doesn't respect that. You have a right to stop that from happening," Chloe said.

Lucifer didn't respond.

"Lucifer, I know that Eve did something terrible to you. I'm pretty sure I even have a good handle on what it is," Chloe said.

"No. You can't," Lucifer whispered.

"I'm a cop, Lucifer. I recognize the signs," Chloe said. Actually, when she thought back, she could see signs going back much further than today. Lucifer's frequent sexual encounters could be seen as a big sign that something happened to him. So could his self-esteem issues. Those things could also stem from a number of other things, but it clicked with what she'd seen today.

Lucifer's hands began to shake, and he refused to turn and look at the detective. He couldn't face her knowing that she knew. She hadn't come out and said what she thought happened to him, but she did seem to think she was right. She usually was, so there was no reason to think she wasn't this time.

Chloe got up and approached him. She leaned against the balcony next to him. "You didn't tempt Eve." It wasn't a question. She was about ninety-five percent sure that whatever happened in the Garden wasn't Lucifer's doing, especially considering the way he reacted when she brought it up earlier.

Lucifer let out a small sob, but didn't respond to her in any other way. No, he had not tempted Eve, not unless being held down while someone forced herself on him could be a form of temptation. If anyone tempted Eve, it was Adam, and he didn't have to try that hard.

"You don't have to tell me about it if you don't want to. I'm sure you're not comfortable with that right now. I only wanted you to know that I have a pretty good idea of what happened so you'll know you can talk to me if and when you want. I also want you to know that I don't think any less of you. What happened wasn't your fault," Chloe said. Unfortunately, she'd known people like Lucifer who did think it was their fault, and who were ashamed of what happened. It was, unfortunately, the norm

"C…Could you p…please leave, Detective. I n…need to be alone," Lucifer said without daring to look at her.

"Yeah. I'll call you if I get a case to see if you want to come. In the meantime, you can call me anytime if you need anything," Chloe said..

Lucifer nodded.

Chloe reluctantly walked away. She didn't want to leave him, but she understood that he needed his space.


	4. Chapter 4

A couple of weeks passed since Lucifer had to deal with Eve. Things had improved for him since then. He had decided to give his partnership with the detective another go, and things were going well. They weren't a hundred percent. He spent the first few days feeling very awkward, not just because of what she did, but also because she knew the gist of what happened to him. Neither one of them said the words out loud, but both knew that she had a good idea. Despite all of that, however, despite all of that, the two of them had gotten back into rhythm pretty easily.

Lucifer was also happy because he had not seen one sign of Eve. Perhaps he was being naïve, but he was hoping this meant the detective was wrong, or that Eve had changed her mind. Maybe she'd decided to hold up her end of their deal after all. He really hoped so. He never wanted to see her again.

Lucifer was at ease as he sat at the piano in LUX playing. That was until he felt a hand on his shoulder. Lucifer resisted the urge to flinch, as he often did when he was caught unaware of someone touching him. He didn't mind being touched most of time, except for children with their germ filled hands, but he wanted to be aware of it.

When Lucifer turned around and saw who it was, he no longer resisted flinching. It was Eve, whom he made it clear to, he never wanted touching him. He abruptly got up from the piano and glared at her. "What are you doing here?"

Eve smiled at him obliviously. "You were really good on the piano."

"Leave now. We had a deal," Lucifer said coldly.

"I know, but I figured you just wanted me to go because you were surprised I was back, and maybe because of your girlfriend. She told me I should stay away from you. I think she's jealous," Eve said.

Lucifer could only guess Eve was talking about the Detective. She must have said something to Eve after the case they worked involving her. Lucifer was a little surprised she was that protective over him after seeing his face, but he was grateful. "You should've listened to her. I told you that I don't want you here."

"Yeah, but I know you don't mean it. We had a great time in the past," she said as she went to take his hand.

Lucifer stepped away from her. _"You_ had a great time!" he snapped before walking towards the bar. He needed a drink badly.

Eve, of course, followed him.

"Poor me a scotch," Lucifer told the bartender.

"Luce, I came back here for you. I think being with you was the only time I was truly happy. It was the best time of my life," Eve said.

"Than that makes you more twisted than I originally thought," Lucifer said before taking the glass of scotch from the bartender and drinking it in a couple of gulps.

"You don't mean that," Eve said as she grabbed onto his arm.

Lucifer yanked his arm free. "Get off of me!"

"Hey," a third voice said.

Lucifer turned to see the detective coming his way.

Chloe immediately got in between the two of them, putting a comforting hand on Lucifer's arm. "Are you okay?"

"I've had better days," Lucifer stated.

Chloe turned to Eve. "You need to leave, now."

"I haven't done anything wrong," Eve said.

"Is everything alright, Boss? Do you want this lady out of here? I can grab the bouncer," the bartender said.

"Yes, go," Lucifer said. It was obvious Eve wasn't going to leave on her own. Usually, he'd have no problem throwing someone out himself, but that would entail physical contact, which, in this case, would entail severe nausea.

"Eve, this might be a difficult concept for you, but you don't get to force your presence or your hands on someone," Chloe said in a harsh whisper. The last thing she wanted to do was draw attention from the rest of Lucifer's guests. He didn't need that.

"I'm not. Lucifer knows he really wants me here. He probably just doesn't want to upset you. He remembers how great things were between us," Eve said.

Lucifer couldn't take it anymore. He wanted Eve to know exactly how he felt about what she did to him, though he couldn't fathom how she could think any different about it. "Stop talking about it like we were a couple! We weren't. Adam held me down while you forced yourself on me!" he said in a low, angry tone.

Chloe felt sick. She could throw up right now. She'd already guessed that Eve had forced herself on Lucifer, but guessing was not the same as confirmation. She also didn't know there was another party to this horrific attack.

"No, it wasn't like that. Adam said it would be more fun for all of us like that. He said you still wanted…"

"What about what I said? I begged you to stop! I cried the entire time, and you acted like it was funny. You laughed," Lucifer said in a shaky tone. Remembering all of this was killing him. He didn't want this all dredged up again.

"Because it wasn't real. It was just to make it better. Adam said you loved it when he would…"

"No! I will not listen to this anymore," Lucifer said before walking away.

Eve went to go after him, but Chloe stepped right into her path.

"No, you stay the hell away from him! I wish to God I could arrest you right now! You are a sexual predator," Chloe said. Unfortunately, they were a few millennia past the statue of limitations, but she wanted this woman in jail.

"He doesn't know what he's saying," Eve said.

"You're not the first rapist I've heard say that before. You're not the first one to blame the victim. Actually, you probably are. It did start with you, didn't it?" Chloe said. It was almost unreal. The first two humans to walk the Earth were the first two rapists, and they'd created the first murderer. These were the first examples of humanity. It made Chloe almost ashamed to call herself human.

Eve felt like she'd been slapped when the detective called her a rapist. That hadn't been a term she'd really known in her lifetime, but she learned about it later. But that wasn't what she was. It wasn't what happened between her and Lucifer. Lucifer wanted to be with her. Adam told her so. He told her not to listen to Lucifer's words. He didn't mean them. That had to be the truth. "No."

Chloe was disgusted. This woman truly didn't think she'd done anything wrong. She believed she could disregard Lucifer's lack of consent because her husband said it was okay, as if that made it better. She knew this was a different time, before any society rules were established, but it should be ingrained in a person's soul that when someone cries and begs you not to do something, you should stop. These might have been the first two people in the universe, but they had to have some degree of understanding of right and wrong. She could tell by Eve's reaction to the term that she knew rape was wrong. She just didn't see what she did as such. That made the whole thing even worse. "If you ever come near Lucifer again, you'll wish I was able to arrest you."

Just then, the bartender came back with the bouncer.

"Get this woman out of here and don't let her back in. Lucifer doesn't want her here," Chloe said before walking away. She headed towards the elevator. Her next stop was the penthouse to check on Lucifer.


	5. Chapter 5

Chloe sat by Lucifer's side on the couch in the penthouse. Both had drinks in their hands and neither had spoken a word in the near half hour she'd been there. Chloe didn't push Lucifer either. She wasn't there to force him to talk. Her purpose right now was to do whatever Lucifer needed her to do. Right now, all he needed was to know that someone was there for him.

Lucifer hadn't looked the detective in the eye since she arrived. How could he after what had happened downstairs. He hadn't meant to admit what happened to him. He'd just lost control of himself when Eve kept pushing him. He was only grateful he'd had the presence of mind to say it quietly, so his entire club didn't hear.

Chloe watched Lucifer finish up his drink before gently taking it from him. She went to the bar and poured them both another before walking back and handing Lucifer his drink. She then resumed her position next to him. As far as she was concerned, they could keep this going all night. She had no plans to leave tonight unless Lucifer asked her to. Trixie was with Dan tonight, so she had not place she had to be.

"You think I'm weak," Lucifer finally said, breaking their long silence.

"No, Lucifer, I don't," Chloe said in a firm tone. "If anything, I think you're stronger than I ever knew. You survived something horrible."

"Did I? It doesn't seem like I've gotten past it," Lucifer said before taking a sip of his drink. He'd thought he'd gotten past it. He hadn't thought on it for a while. Then he saw Eve for the first time. In that moment, he knew he wasn't past it. It all came back, and he felt sick to his stomach.

"I don't think you get past something like that, Lucifer. You just learn to live with it. With help, maybe you find ways to cope with it," Chloe said.

"Are you going to ask? Don't you want to know what happened? Why I let them hurt me that way?" Lucifer asked. He expected her to have a ton of questions, but she hadn't even asked one.

"You didn't let them do it, Lucifer. Don't ever think you did. You are not responsible for what they did to you. Now, if you want to talk to me about it, I will be more than happy to listen, but I won't pressure you into it. I'm here to help you anyway I can," Chloe told him.

Silence filled the room once more. It lasted a good ten more minutes before Lucifer gained the courage to speak again. "When Father first created humans, he placed them in the Garden of Eden. I'm sure you already knew that much. We were forbidden to interact with them. We were told to stay out of the Garden. We all did for a while, but I was curious. I wanted to see them for myself. You'll never know how much I regret that curiosity."

Chloe didn't respond. She decided it was best to just let him talk for now.

"I met Adam first. He was a nasty, sick bastard. He was polite enough at first, but it became clear after just a couple of minutes that he wished me harm. He started…. touching my wings. You don't do that. No one touches an angel's wings. Only my parents ever did, and that was for practical reasons, such as grooming. When Adam did it…"

"He was violating you," Chloe finished for him. She thought back to when she and Lucifer first started working together. She went to touch the scars on his back, where she now knew his wings had been. He'd had a bad reaction to it. Back then, she thought it was because of the trauma of what caused those scars. Now, she wondered if at least part of it was because it was almost like touching his wings in his eyes, like Adam had.

Lucifer nodded. "That was when I first began to fear something terrible might happen. The way he kept talking to me made it worse. I wanted to fight or run, but I realized that I couldn't. When my father created humans, he made it clear that we were not to ever harm them. He made sure Adam knew that too," he said bitterly. He was sure his father hadn't told Adam they weren't allowed to hurt them so Adam could take advantage of the rule. He had probably only done it to assure the new humans that they were safe. Still, Lucifer couldn't help but be angry at his father. His rule, and making it known to Adam, had made it impossible for Lucifer to defend himself.

Chloe sighed sadly. She obviously didn't know God, but she had to believe that he hadn't intended for his kids to be defenseless in a situation such as this. He just hadn't been clear enough, probably because he didn't foresee something like this happened. At least she hoped that was the case. She didn't want to think any parent, especially God, would condone such a thing. Unfortunately, Adam had taken advantage of any miscommunication there was.

"He… He said if I ran, he'd tell my father I was there. I wasn't supposed to be there. When it was o…over, I wanted to run and never go back. Adam said if I didn't come back regularly, h…he'd tell as well. He said my father would blame me. He said it was m…my fault," Lucifer cried.

Chloe wanted to cry herself for the pain her friend and partner had gone through. Adam was a typical sexual predator. He exploited his victim's fears. He made Lucifer feel like he was responsible for his own attack. "Lucifer, he said that to control you. He said it so he could keep hurting you. It wasn't your fault. You were young when this happened, weren't you?"

"I suppose. I was seventeen centuries. That translates into years in relation to human age," he said.

Chloe closed her eyes sadly. If that was true, he was still a kid, and one who probably knew nothing about what was happening to him. She couldn't imagine how frightening it had to be for him. "Did you ever tell your father?"

Lucifer shook his head. "I did try to tell someone once though. For a while, I was afraid of being blamed, but that stopped mattering shortly after Eve was added into the mix as well. I couldn't stand it anymore. If it was possible, I would've committed suicide. I decided that no lecture or punishment from my father could be worse than what they were doing to me in the Garden. But I didn't want to tell my father just yet. I decided to go to my twin, Michael, first.

Chloe could only guess that that ended badly. Lucifer had said, after all, that he'd never told his father. Plus, she'd heard the stories humanity told on the animosity between Michael and Lucifer. If those stories were true, this was probably at least part of why.

"Michael didn't really listen. I told him that I'd disobeyed Dad's rule about going into the Garden. I told him how they… Well, I started to tell him about my last interactions with Adam and Eve. He…. didn't listen long enough for me to tell him that they forced me. He lashed out at me. He told me I was wrong to do what I did. Then he told Dad," Lucifer said with hurt laced in his voice. It always hurt that his own twin had turned against him. That was why he never told his father. He and Michael were very close. If he would have that reaction, Lucifer didn't trust anyone else to take his side. He figured if his father even listened long enough to hear the whole story, he'd just blame him. He thought it might be better that his father only knew Michael's version.

"That's why the world believes you tempted Eve?" Chloe asked. It was probably the most devastating thing she'd ever heard. This was a story that every human learned at one point or another, and it turned out that it was all a lie.

Lucifer nodded.

"Your own brother just jumped to the conclusion that you were to blame. He didn't even think to ask if it was your choice," Chloe said in disgust.

"To be fair, r…rape wasn't something that happened then. It wasn't even a word to us. I didn't even know what to call it when it was happening," Lucifer said. That being said, Lucifer did have a lot of anger for Michael for not even listening to him. For going straight to his father without waiting for an explanation.

"This is why you were sent to Hell?" Chloe asked.

"No. My father was angry, so was my mother for that matter, but she was more angry that I'd, in her mind, lowered myself to such interactions with a lesser species. She's always hated humans. Anyway, I wasn't sent to Hell until later, after I'd lead a rebellion. Actually, things did get better for a little while after Michael went to our father. Adam and Eve were banished from the Silver City. They couldn't hurt me anymore. I thought it was over," Lucifer explained.

"But it wasn't," Chloe said. It wasn't a question. She had enough experience with rape victims to know that it didn't just end when the abuse. There was far reaching damage.

Lucifer shook his head. "It was alright for a while. It was better, but when time went on, I started getting angry. Everything would make me angry, but the biggest was the freedom humans had. They could do as they pleased with no consequences. Adam and Eve were proof of that. I wanted that for myself. If I'd had that, they never could've hurt me. And I didn't want that to ever happen again. I wanted the ability to… to say no. Dad wouldn't give it to me. He said I wasn't like humans. That made me angry. I was also angry that he'd created Adam and Eve in the first place. My own father had created those that hurt me."

Chloe couldn't even form words right now. Literally everything that anyone knew about Lucifer was wrong. Everything she'd been scared of when she saw his face and went to Rome wasn't true. Lucifer didn't go against God because he was evil. That much she'd figured out herself after a while, but she never would've imagined the true. The so called Devil had been nothing more than an angry teenager that didn't know how to deal with such an awful thing happening to him. He lashed out because it was the only way he knew how to respond. No one was there to help him. The only person he'd even tried to ask for help had refused to even listen to him. He spiraled out of control until he broke. Lucifer was not the Devil. If there was any devil at all, it was in Adam and Eve. That was beyond ironic. Humanity had been the evil party in this story.

Lucifer began to sob uncontrollably. This was the first time he'd been able to tell his story, and he could not bear it anymore. He broke down. It just hurt so badly, even millennia later.

Chloe tentatively put a hand on his shoulder. She wasn't sure it was the right move given everything he just told her, but she felt the need to comfort him somehow.

Lucifer flinched at first, but then he leaned into the touch and cried harder.

Xxxxxxxxxx

Eve was annoyed as she stood outside LUX. The man who kicked her out was standing a few feet away staring at her suspiciously. She'd tried many times to get him to let her back into the club, but he seemed determined to keep her out. She had to get back in and talk to Lucifer. She had to make him see that he was wrong about what happened between them, and that they should be together. It had to be that detective that convinced him she hurt him. She knew that he wanted everything that happened between them.

"Eve?" a voice called out surprised.

Eve turned and saw Lucifer's brother looking at her in shock. She smiled at him. "Oh, hi, Amenadiel.

"Eve, you're not supposed to be here," Amenadiel said as he walked towards her. He was surprised to see her outside of Heaven. He knew it was theoretically possible for a soul to leave the Silver City, just as it was to leave Hell, but, just like with Hell, it had never happened before.

"Yeah, I needed a change of scenery. Heaven was boring. I came to see Lucifer, but he doesn't seem to want to see me. He's been really cold," Eve said.

Amenadiel was a little surprised to hear that, but Lucifer was much different than he used to be. Maybe he didn't want the reminder of what happened in the Garden. "Why do you want to see Lucifer anyway?"

"Well, we had a lot of fun back in the Garden. I was hoping we could again. Lucifer's confused though. I think it's because of his new girlfriend," Eve said with a bit of annoyance in her voice.

"You mean Chloe? Detective Decker?" Amenadiel asked.

"Yeah. He keeps saying I hurt him. It has to be because of her. He's saying I raped him, but that isn't what happened. He wanted…"

"Whoa! He's saying what?" Amenadiel asked in disbelief.

"That I raped him, but that's not what happened. You know that. Everyone knows that. Everyone knows he wanted to do it. It's in the story. It has to be that woman convincing him. You can get me into see him, right?" Eve asked.

"Um, I think you should just go, Eve," Amenadiel said. He didn't know how to respond to the rest of what she said. That couldn't be true, could it. Lucifer would've said something if it were. Plus, he could've fought against anyone who tried to hurt him like that.

"But I need to see Lucifer," Eve whined.

"If he kicked you out, he's not going to see you. You should go," he said.

Sighing unhappily, Eve headed towards the parking lot.

Amenadiel left as well. He was planning to visit with his brother, but now, he had too much on his mind to do that. He kept telling himself that what he'd just heard couldn't possibly be true, but there was this nagging doubt in the back of his mind. If it was true, it would change everything.


	6. Chapter 6

Lucifer approached the detective's desk with two cups of coffee in his hands. He held one out for her. "Morning, Detective."

Chloe smiled and took the offered coffee cup. "Morning. Thanks. Your appointment with Linda is today, right?" Chloe asked.

Lucifer stiffened a bit. It had been a few days since he'd told the detective everything. She suggested he talk with Linda about it. He agreed, but he did not look forward to it. "Yes, at eleven. Unless you need me here. I can always reschedule."

"Lucifer, you don't have to do this if you're not ready. I think it will help you to talk this all out with Linda, but it's your decision when and if you're ready for that," Chloe said.

"I don't want her to look at me differently," Lucifer admitted. Linda wasn't just his therapist. They were also friends. He didn't want her to start seeing him differently because she found out this last truth about him.

"She won't Lucifer. She won't think any less of you. I don't. I think you went through something horrible, and I hate that, but my opinion of you hasn't changed. If I think less of anyone, it's my own species," Chloe said. It was a little hard to wrap her head around the fact that the first humans were rapists. How could she not think less of her species when that was their history.

"Don't. Not all humans are like that," Lucifer said. He couldn't deny that there was a time when he thought the same thing. It took a lot of human interaction before he stopped looking at them all like Adam and Eve.

"Enough are. Anyway, I just want you to realize that you have nothing to be ashamed of. Linda will agree, but you have to decide whether or not you want to tell her. You shouldn't do it just because I told you it's a good idea," Chloe said.

"She would say it's a good idea too. Perhaps it is. I admit, it felt better after I told you," Lucifer said. Telling her was the most difficult thing he'd ever done, which said a lot seeing as he'd been alive since the beginning of time, but it felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders afterwards.

"Getting things out in the open can often help sometimes. I think part of the reason you rebelled is because everything got so pent up. You couldn't let it out," Chloe said.

"Perhaps. Well, I should only be gone a about an hour and a half. I'll be back as soon as I'm finished," Lucifer assured her.

"Don't feel like you have to. It might be better for you to just go home. I think today will take a lot out of you," Chloe said.

"Well, I don't want to leave you alone. We're partners," Lucifer said.

Chloe chuckled. "I'll be fine. We don't even have a case right now. I'm just doing paperwork right now."

"Will you allow me to help?"

Chloe looked at him like he grew a second head. "You want to do paperwork?"

"I would take my mind off things," Lucifer said."

"Okay," Chloe said before handing him a couple of files.

Lucifer took them and sat down.

Xxxxxxxxxx

Lucifer was beyond nervous as he sat in Linda's office. It was time for him to tell her, but he didn't know how to make himself do it, and he was quite worried about her reaction. It was different with the detective. She'd essentially already known, and he was too emotionally raw to be able to stay quiet about it. This time, he was making a deliberate, rational decision to tell someone.

"Lucifer, you seem very anxious. Is everything alright? Are things okay between you and Chloe?" Linda asked. When something was bothering Lucifer, it typically had to do with Chloe, and given that they had been having trouble in the last few weeks, it seemed like a realistic leap to jump to.

"Uh, yes, they are alright. The detective has actually been there for me quite a lot lately. I confided something in her, and she has suggested that I tell you about it," Lucifer said nervously.

Linda could tell from his body language that this was not something Lucifer actually wanted to tell her. She was pretty sure he told her just about everything, so it worried her what he might have to say now. "Lucifer, you know that anything you say is confidential, right?"

Lucifer nodded. "It…It's just hard to talk about. The detective's the only one I ever told."

"Take your time," Linda said patiently.

"You know the story of Adam and Eve, yes?"

Linda nodded. Of course she did. Everyone knew that story. She realized now that she and Lucifer had never really discussed that before. He talked a lot about his rebellion and being sent to Hell, but that particular incident wasn't discussed.

"Well, it's a lie! And I'm not just talking about the apple part. The forbidden fruit was always a metaphor," Lucifer said.

"For sex," Linda guessed.

Lucifer's hands began to shake and he looked down at his knees. "No, not exactly. That implies it was consensual.

Linda gaped in shock at the implication of Lucifer's words. He was telling her that what happened with Eve wasn't consensual. It was rape. Linda knew Lucifer. She knew his fierce belief in Free Will. He wouldn't take someone's consent away. But that only left one other option. Lucifer wasn't the offender. He was the victim.

While Linda didn't understand how any human would be able to overpower Lucifer to assault him like that, one look at her patient, and she knew that was what happened. Lucifer was shaking and he was avoiding direct eye contact. She could see the shame that came with the stigma of rape. "Eve raped you."

Lucifer nodded. "They both did. Adam held me down for her, and he did it himself long before he involved her."

A thousand things were going through Linda's head. She thought back on every session she had with Lucifer. All of his issues could be explained by this. It was no wonder she often felt like she was taking one step forward and three back with him. It was because she had yet to identify the real problem. No real healing could start until it was identified.

It took Linda a few minutes to figure out how to respond. This was not what she was expecting. "What happened wasn't your fault, Lucifer. That's the first thing you need to know."

"I didn't fight them," Lucifer said quietly.

"You shouldn't have had to. When a person says no, that's it. You shouldn't need to use violence to stop someone from hurting you," Linda said.

Lucifer shrugged. Realistically, he knew he didn't do anything to deserve what happened to him, but he couldn't help but blame himself.

"Does your father know?" Linda asked.

"Not that I know of. He hadn't discovered it when he threw me out. He still believed I tempted Eve. I let him. I was afraid he'd be even more angry with me if he knew the truth," Lucifer said.

"I'm going to cancel the rest of my appointments," Linda said.

"You don't have to do that," Lucifer said. He wasn't so broken that he needed take up Linda's entire day.

"I'm doing it. I think you need more than an hour. Don't worry, I had nothing dire on the calendar. It's not the first time I've had to do this. It's fine," Linda assured him.

Lucifer nodded reluctantly. If he was being honest, he didn't think he'd be ready to just leave in an hour anyway.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Amenadiel flew to the gates of the Silver City and went inside. He'd been sitting with what Eve had said to him for days. He tried several times to tell himself that it couldn't be true that Eve raped Lucifer. She seemed convinced it wasn't true. But she said Lucifer said it to her. Lucifer didn't lie. Still, Amenadiel fought against the idea because Lucifer could've fought against a human easily. However, back then, their father was even more protective of humanity than he was now. Now, they just weren't allowed to kill humans. Back then, they were warned against any physical harm to a human. It was possible that Lucifer took that to mean he couldn't defend himself against them. He could've run though, or flown. Why wouldn't he?

After days of contemplating it, Amenadiel decided he had to know the truth one way or another. He was going to go to Lucifer, but he wasn't sure his brother would be honest with him. Lucifer would never lie, but he would avoid the truth. There were plenty of ways to hide what happened without telling a single lie. So, Amenadiel decided to go to the person who had originally accused Lucifer of tempting Eve. Michael.

Amenadiel soon approached his brother's quarters and knocked on the door.

The doors were opened moments later by an identical version of Lucifer. "Ah, Amenadiel. Have you tired of humans already. I thought you'd last longer."

"I need to talk to you," Amenadiel said before brushing past his brother on his way inside.

"Oh, yes, come in," Michael said dryly before shutting the door.

"Listen, I know this is going to sound strange, but I need to ask you about what happened when Lucifer confided in you about Eve," Amenadiel said.

"I've always found it beyond idiotic that he'd refer to himself by his job description," Michael said.

Amenadiel ignored him. "Did Lucifer tell you he'd tempted Eve?"

"Of course, he did," Michael said.

"Were those his words or did you assume based on what he did say?" Amenadiel asked. He had to know exactly what Michael knew. It was the only way he could get to the bottom of it and figure out what to do next.

"What does it matter? It was literally thousands of years ago," Michael said.

"It matters a lot. What happened might not have been what we thought. I'm assuming you're familiar with the term rape?" Amenadiel asked.

"Yes, that's when humans force other humans to fornicate," Michael said in disgust. Humans could be quite awful. He didn't understand why two of his brothers insisted on living amongst them.

It's possible that may have been what happened," Amenadiel said.

"You think Samael compelled Eve in such a way?" Michael asked.

"No. I have reason to believe it's the opposite," he said.

"What? Don't be ridiculous. No human could force an archangel to do anything. Clearly Samael is trying to excuse his actions," Michael said.

"But we weren't allowed to hurt humans. Father would've been furious if we did. Maybe Lucifer didn't feel he could defend himself," Amenadiel said.

"Did he tell you this?" Michael asked.

"No, but Eve said he accused her of raping him. Maybe she misunderstood or something, but I thought I should talk to you. What did Lucifer say happened that night? Did he say it was consensual?" Amenadiel asked.

"Of course, he…" Michael trailed off as he remembered the conversation. His brother actually didn't say. He admitted to visiting Adam and Eve. He'd described his last interaction with them, which included details of their physical contract. But he'd never said who initiated it. When Michael thought back, he remembered his brother being quite upset, but he assumed that was because Samael knew their father would be angry. "No. When he told me what he'd done with them, I stopped listening. I started yelling at him, and then I went to Father."

"So, he never said how it happened?" Amenadiel asked. He was really hoping not to hear that. He was hoping for confirmation that it was consensual. Instead, his doubts got worse.

Michael shook his head. "You believe those barbarians launched an attack on our brother?"

"I don't know, but if this is true, everything that anyone believes is based on a lie. It means not even we know Lucifer," Amenadiel said.

Michael stared at him for a moment before heading for the door.

"Where are you going?" Amenadiel asked, though he had a pretty good idea.

"This was my doing. I need to fix it," Michael said as he continued on his way.

Amenadiel rushed out after him. "Michael, wait. We don't know if this is true. It's just a theory."

"Then the truth can be forced out of those human pieces of scum after I inform Father of this theory," Michael said. If this was true, Adam was involved too. He recalled his brother mentioning Adam at least being present.

"Michael, Father's rage will be uncontrollable if he even suspects this is true. All of humanity may pay the price," Amenadiel warned seriously. He could see his father destroying all human over this. After all, Adam and Eve were the beginning of it.

"Good riddance!" Michael yelled as he approached his father's home. He never cared for humanity. If they'd done this to his brother, he was more than willing to see them extinct.

"I'm not saying Father shouldn't know, but we should wait until we know for sure," Amenadiel said. By now, they'd made it inside and were headed for their father's office.

"No," was all Michael said before letting himself into his father's office.

A dark haired man peered up at them looking less than pleased. "Michael, Amenadiel, what is the meaning of this. You know you are to knock before you come in."

"I'm sorry, Father, but this couldn't wait even long enough for me to knock," Michael said.

"What's wrong, son?" God asked, noticing his son's distress.

Michael sighed. "I believe we all may have made a grave error."

God listened as Michael explained what Amenadiel told him regarding Samael and the first two humans. By the time he was done, the entire universe would feel effects of God's rage.


	7. Chapter 7

God was barely keeping a lid on his fury, and by that he meant that it hadn't caused any lasting destruction yet. It was certainly making itself known though in the form of weather changes. If nothing else, his children felt his rage. He could feel their panic around the Silver City, which was why he was trying to contain it, but he found it impossible, even for him. Every time he recalled Michael's words, his anger got worse

Rape, God thought in utter disgust. There were things that humans did to each other that God would never understand. It was the downside to Free Will. He used to take it very personally when humans hurt each other. That was why he'd cursed Cain. After a while, he chose to let humanity be. He decided that despite the flaws, Free Will was still needed for humanity to govern itself. They would punish themselves for their sins in the afterlife.

This would not go unpunished by God, not this. They raped his son. His son. His poor little Samael. God remembered his child as a small little angel. Samael was always so happy and full of life. That's why he was the Lightbringer. Lightness poured off of his personality. He was still willful at times and had a unique personality, but he had a darker outlook now. God could now see very clearly when and why that changed. He didn't understand then. He could only see his son's attitude as willful disobedience, which angered him greatly. God could admit now that he went way too far. He knew that long before hearing what Michael just had to say. Now it was worse. He punished his son for something he couldn't help. He punished him for being victimized. Well, he would punish the right parties now. They would suffer unimaginably. They would beg for Hell when he was done.

"Father?"Amenadiel asked hesitantly. His father had been quiet for the last ten minutes or so, but his rage had not. It radiated from him. At times, the walls would even shake from it. His father was livid. Amenadiel wasn't sure he'd ever seen him so angry.

There was no reply.

"Father, we don't know for sure that it actually happened," Amenadiel tried again. He really didn't want this to be true. Not only would it mean something unspeakable happened to his little brother, which was awful enough, but the backlash would be biblical.

"Have you ever known your brother to lie?" God asked his firstborn.

"No, but we don't know what he actually said. Eve May have misunderstood his words," Amenadiel said.

"The only thing she misunderstood is her place!" Michael snarled.

"Michael, bring me Adam's soul immediately," God commanded. He had very little doubt that this happened, but he needed to know for sure, and he needed to know how it happened and if Adam had any part of it. His sons seemed to think Adam was involved, which made sense. When Michael first came to him eons ago, he mentioned Adam being involved, and Samael didn't deny it. If one did it, the other probably did too.

"Yes, Father."

"You shouldn't feel the need to be gentle, son," he added.

"Understood," Michael said with a smirk before heading out of the room.

"What now, Father. What will you do if this is true?" Amenadiel asked with trepidation.

"There is no 'if', son. I don't want to believe it any more than you do, but I'm nearly a hundred percent certain that it's true. Samael doesn't lie, and I find it hard to believe that anyone could misinterpret being accused of such a terrible act," God said.

"Why didn't he tell us?" Amenadiel asked. He was pretty sure his brother had at least tried to tell Michael, and Michael admitted that he didn't listen long enough, but he never tried to tell their parents the truth, even when their father lectured him.

"Perhaps because no one gave him the chance," God said. He knew he was guilty of that. He had been very angry when he found out his son had been visiting the two humans when God told all his children to stay away. He was even more livid when he found out exactly what transpired, or at least what he thought transpired. It never occurred to him that Samael had been forced. Force in this way had never occurred before. Rape was a human concept, one God felt distain for. The fact that it was done to his child made it infinitely worse. He wished he'd had the forethought to ask Samael who was responsible for what happened in the garden instead of letting his anger get the better of him, but again, nothing like that had ever happened. Plus, he'd never imagined that a human could force one of his children to do anything. They were much stronger than humans. But they'd found a way. That, God was sure of.

"What's going to happen now? This changes everything. Luci suffered alone for thousands of years. None of us…"

"I know, son," God said. He was not unaware of what all this meant. His son had not just been a victim of this terrible crime. He had been a victim to all of them as well. He'd watched his son grow more distant and get angrier as time went on, and God had answered it with more anger and punishment. What his son really needed was help. Well, God may have failed to give him that thus far, but no longer.

"We failed him," Amenadiel said in a shaky voice.

"I failed him, Amenadiel. This is my doing," God said. Samael was his son. It was his responsibility to protect him, and to help him when he failed to protect him. He did neither.

Michael returned soon with Adam. He had the human soul gripped by the back of the collar. He roughly shoved him towards his father the moment they entered the being's office.

God took a couple steps towards the human and made sure to look as intimidating as possible. Given who he was, that was quite a lot. "Hello, Adam. I need some clarification on the time you and your wife spent in the Garden with my son."

Adam stiffened a bit, but covered his apprehension up quickly. He didn't need to be worried. Whatever God thought he knew, Adam could play off as a lie. It shouldn't be hard to blame the Devil. It had worked thus far. "Of course. I'll answer any questions you have, but I think you already know everything…"

"You misunderstand me," God interrupted before taking another step forward menacingly. "I have no interest or need for your words."

"I don't…"

God raised one hand, and a bright white light emitted from it towards Adam, causing the human soul to grab his head and scream in agony. God could've made this process less painful, but given that this human had likely at least helped cause harm to his son, he wasn't inclined.

God used his power to sift through Adam's memories until he found what he was looking for. He watched as his young Samael walked through the Garden, curiosity etched on his face. He really should've known that if anyone was going to break his rule to stay out of the garden. His curiosity always got the better of him. Human beings were foreign to his children. Of course, his son would be curious. Perhaps if God had been a little more open about them, this wouldn't have happened.

God watched his son's interactions with Adam. He watched him touch Samael's wings and then his person. Rage built up inside of God to the point that the walls began to rumble. He saw as Adam used his own words to harm his boy. He watched as he did it over and over again.

God's rage was untamable by the time he was done. He'd seen what these humans had done to his child. He'd heard as his son begged them to stop. He saw him fight the urge to use violence to protect himself because he was afraid of what God would do if he hurt humans. He saw all of this happen over and over again. He'd been pretty sure his son had been assaulted, but he had no idea that it happened so recurrently.

Michael and Amenadiel looked around the room as it shook wildly. Both knew it was due to their father's rage. Amenadiel was nervous as he watched his father's rage. He knew it meant beyond a shadow of a doubt that something bad happened to Lucifer. He also knew his father was angry enough to destroy whole species at this point, and that he just might.

Michael was pleased by his father's rage. It wasn't that he found anything satisfying about Samael's pain at the hands of mortals, but it pleased him to know that they would suffer for their actions. As far as he was concerned, humanity itself should suffer as a whole.

God finally stopped searching Adam's mind, and the blinding white light slowly disappeared. God's rage, however, did not. His hand found the human soul's throat and he began squeezing. It wouldn't kill him because he was already dead and technically didn't need oxygen, but it would hurt a lot. "You used my own words to abuse my child?! You thought you had the right to use and torment him?! To force yourself on him?!"

"N…No. He w…wanted it. He t…tempted…" Adam didn't get to finish because the white light returned, only this time, Adam got the feeling it was designed to do much more than invade his mind.

Amenadiel immediately knew what his father was about to do. He was going to destroy Adam. A large part of Amenadiel wanted that. He wanted this monster gone from the universe entirely. But the other part of him knew it wasn't enough, which was why he approached his father and took him by the arm holding Adam. "Father, stop. This is too easy. He deserves worse than simply being destroyed. He deserves to suffer! And Lucifer deserves to face him.. He deserves to see Justice finally done. He needs that.

God looked over at his oldest son, contemplating his words. As much as he wanted this creature gone, he saw his son's wisdom. It wasn't good enough and would not be fair to his son. "Very well. Lock him in a cell to await trial. Then retrieve Eve. She too will suffer for her crimes!"

"Yes, Father," Amenadiel said before roughly taking Adam from his father's arms. "You hurt my little brother! You will suffer as much as pain as we are able to inflict! Move!" he snarled at the human in his grasp before dragging him from the room.

"Michael, get your siblings together. I want every soul searched for any behavior such as this. Obviously, we cannot rely on guilt to keep this kind of filth out of the Silver City. Any soul with sociopathic tendencies is to be deposited straight in hell," God said. Honestly, he was considering just destroying them all. Humanity started off as faulty, and if he'd known it then, it would've been the end of it. These people had harmed his child. He didn't see much benefit in letting them live. But that was a decision for a later time.

"Yes, Father. First though, I want to go get Samael. I want to bring him home," Michael said. His brother didn't belong on Earth, where those animals resided. He belonged with his family. They could help him. They could make up for the pain they caused. Michael knew he would anyway. He was aware of the disservice he'd done his brother when he'd come to him for help. He should've listened. Well, he would do whatever he could to fix that now.

"No," God said.

"But nothing that happened was his fault. It was those humans," Michael said, spitting the last word out distastefully.

"And they're still here, aren't they? You believe it is fair to ask him to return when there are humans here that may or may not have nefarious intentions?" God asked.

"But how is being there any better? There are more of them there," Michael pointed out.

"He feels more in control there. He feels free to fight back and to do what he wishes. That was part of the problem. These humans got to him by making him feel powerless. They used my orders against him. If you force him back here, that control vanishes. I won't allow that. Once I've handled things here, I will ask Samael to come home, but I can't ask that of him right now. And he will not be forced. He's been forced enough," God said firmly.

Michael sighed. He knew his father's mind had been made up. "Yes, Father."

"Please go do as I've asked."

Michael nodded and headed out of the room


	8. Chapter 8

It didn't take Lucifer long to realize that the weather patterns were abnormal. When the storms began, he hadn't thought much of it, despite the fact that there was no indication of a storm in the media. Humans often got the weather wrong. However, the storms were strong and had been going on for hours. There bouts of earthquakes kept hitting. That raised Lucifer's suspicions. Earthquakes were far from uncommon in California, but combined with the strange storms, it raised eyebrows, at least to those who knew enough. Then Lucifer discovered that it wasn't just happening in California. It was occurring throughout the planet. That sealed it. This was not typical weather patterns. This was his father. There wasn't any other explanation.

Lucifer couldn't deny being unsettled. In the eons that he'd been alive, he had never seen this sort of thing. He'd heard his mother had done quite a bit of damage with the floods to destroy humanity, but even that hadn't gone this far. And Lucifer knew it wasn't her because she wasn't even on the same plane of existence. To do this, his father had to either be trying to destroy the world or so angry that he couldn't control himself enough to stop. Lucifer had never seen his father that angry, and given that he led a rebellion against the old man, one should be able to guess how disconcerting that was.

Lucifer had to wonder what had his father so angry. If his rebellion couldn't create this level of rage, what could? Unless he was doing it on purpose, but Lucifer doubted that. Why would his father suddenly decide to create natural disasters that could destroy his creations?

Lucifer soon heard the ding of the elevator. He turned to see the detective coming in. "Detective, what are you doing here? You shouldn't be traveling in these conditions."

"I waited for the earthquakes to stop. At least I hope they've stopped," Chloe said. Normally, she still wouldn't risk driving in this kind of weather, but she was concerned. This did not seem normal. "This is happening everywhere. This doesn't seem natural."

"It's not. This is the result of my father's rage. Nothing else could cause this except for him. I'm not sure what could make him this angry though.

Chloe could think of one thing. If God had learned the truth about what happened to Lucifer with Adam and Eve, it might lead to something like this. She knew if anyone hurt Trixie like that, and Chloe had God's level of power, her rage would destroy anything in her path. "Could he have found out what Adam and Eve did to you?"

Lucifer looked away uncomfortably. He hoped not. He didn't want his father to know at this point. Too many already knew for his liking. He didn't imagine what happened to him could've caused his father's rage. "He could if he were paying attention, but I doubt he'd care."

Chloe sighed sadly at Lucifer's words. He thought his father felt so little for him that he didn't think his father would care about what happened to him. She hoped that wasn't true. She didn't want to believe that God was such a dick that he wouldn't care that his own son had been through something so terrible. She didn't want that for Lucifer either.

Soon, a young woman appeared directly behind Lucifer, her wings still out from flying. "Lucifer, I'm freaking out!"

"Holy crap!" Chloe exclaimed startled. She was not expecting an angel to just suddenly show up in front of her.

Lucifer turned to the newcomer and gave her an annoyed look. "Bloody Hell, Azrael! You can't just fly in wherever you like! You should at least have kept your invisibility up until you knew no humans were around. You're bloody lucky the detective here already knows."

"I don't think it really matters at this point. You may not have noticed, but Dad's on a freaking rampage!" Azrael said.

"This is your sister, Lucifer?" Chloe asked.

"Yes, this is Azrael. Azrael, meet Chloe Decker," Lucifer said.

"Nice to meet you. I wish I had more time to get to know you, but we've got an end of the world type of situation here," Azrael said.

"I think you're being a bit overdramatic, Azrael," Lucifer said.

Azrael gave him a look. "Really? Have you ever seen Dad this pissed? Because I haven't. You didn't piss him off this much. Hell, Mom didn't piss him off this much."

"Well, have you any idea why this is happening?" he asked.

"Not really. When I realized what was happening, I went to the Silver City. Everyone is frantic, by the way. Anyway, I spoke with Gabriel. He didn't know much, but he said it started after Dad took a meeting with Michael and Amenadiel," Azrael explained.

"Amenadiel?" Lucifer asked surprised. He hadn't been aware that Amenadiel had gone back to the Silver City. The last he heard, Amenadiel had decided to stay on Earth.

"Yeah. Gabriel also said that the minds of every soul in the Silver City are going to be checked for sociopathic behavior. I guess Dad's worried souls have gotten in that shouldn't," she said.

Lucifer stiffened. If that was the case his father was going to find out about him. His siblings as well. They would get to Adam's soul eventually, and they'd see what he'd done to Lucifer. Lucifer didn't want any of them to know. Granted, he probably wouldn't have to see them anytime soon, aside from Amenadiel, but he still didn't want them to know.

"Shouldn't it have been like that anyway?" Chloe asked. Lucifer had told her after he told her what happened to him that Adam was in Heaven, and she knew Eve had been before she came back. It disgusted her. Those two belonged in Hell if anybody did.

Azrael shrugged. "Everyone just assumed that human guilt would see that anyone who deserved it ended up in hell. Dad's always been about Free Will, even in death."

Lucifer snorted. "For humans maybe."

"Anyway, I guess Dad must have gotten wind of a soul in Heaven that doesn't belong. I don't understand how that could make him this angry though. This seemed kind of low on the list of things that might bring out God's wrath. A lot of worse things had happened that didn't bring out this kind of anger in her father.

The Earth began to shake at that point again.

Lucifer immediately took the detective into his arms to protect her from the earthquake if necessary. He then looked up at the ceiling with an annoyed look on his face. "Alright, Father, we get the point! You're pissed off!"

"This is getting really freaky, Lu! I can't think of anything that could make Dad this pissed. The worst anger I've seen from him was when Mom started killing humans to make a point to him. What in the universe could be worse than that?" Azrael said. Honestly, she wasn't sure she wanted to know because it had to be really bad, but she had a feeling she was going to find out whether she wanted to know or not.

Chloe wondered yet again if maybe God did know about Lucifer. If he'd found out that there was a rapist in his home, it might explain why he began scanning every soul. It would definitely explain the literal earth moving rage. No parent would take it calmly after finding out his kid was sexually abused

"Is Amenadiel still in the Silver City?" Lucifer asked.

"Not that I know of," Azrael said.

"I'm going to call for him," Lucifer said before sending out a quick prayer, knowing it was the fastest way to reach his brother. A good ten minutes later, and there was no sign of him. "Bloody hell, Amenadiel. Answer!"

A large thunder bolt was heard from outside and the lights began to flicker.

"Oh, Dad, come on," Azrael said.

"It's going to get much worse," a voice suddenly said.

Lucifer turned towards the balcony only to find a carbon copy of himself standing by it. "Michael."


	9. Chapter 9

Michael knew he wasn't supposed to go to his brother right now. His father had made himself very clear that he wasn't to try to bring Samael home just yet. Normally, Michael wouldn't dare go against his father, especially considering how furious he was, but in this instance, Michael believed his father was wrong. His brother did not belong among this barbaric creatures after all the pain they'd already caused him. Yes, his father was correct that there were human souls in Heaven, including Adam's, but none of them would allow them to hurt Samael ever again. Michael would personally ensure his brother's safety.

Michael had a lot of guilt over what his brother went through. He knew that it was his fault his that Samael suffered so much. He couldn't have prevented what Adam and Eve had done, but he could've stopped the blame he received afterwards, and maybe even his rebellion. All he had to do was listen when Samael had come to him.

Michael could see his twin's distress in those moments when he thought back on them. He didn't know why he didn't see them then. Actually, he did see them then. He just jumped to the conclusion that his brother was worried about the punishment he'd receive. It didn't occur to him that his brother was upset about something awful happening to him.

Lucifer's words finally broke Michael out of his thoughts. "What are you doing here, Michael?"

"You're Michael?" Chloe asked. It wasn't really a question. He looked exactly like Lucifer and he'd just been addressed by the name.

Michael rolled his eyes at the human. "I would think that would be obvious by now."

"It was, but I wanted to be a hundred percent sure. I'd hate to do this to the wrong person," Chloe said before taking a step forward and slapping him hard across the face.

Lucifer and Azrael both looked at Chloe shocked, and a little amused on Lucifer's part. Neither expected her to attack their brother.

Michael was shocked at first as well. Then shock turned to anger. "How dare you?!"

Lucifer got in front of the detective as his brother advanced on her. "You will not lay a finger on her!"

Chloe wasn't the least bit afraid, though that could be because Lucifer was standing between her and the other archangel. "That was for what you've done to Lucifer! You turned your back on him more than once! You hurt him!"

"That's rich coming from a human. You barbarians have done worse to my brother than I could even dream!" Michael snarled at her.

Lucifer flinched. Michael's words suggested that he knew. He eluded to a human hurting him. No humans had except for Adam and Eve. Well, except for when the detective nearly turned on him with Kinley, but he doubted Michael was referring to that.

"Yeah, and what did you do about it?! What did any of you do about it?!" Chloe shot back heatedly. She could not deny that humanity had done a number on Lucifer, but so had his so called family, particularly his twin. "You vilified him! _You_ turned your back on him, refused to listen to him when he came to you!"

Michael felt another pang of guilt, but he refused to let this human see it. She wasn't worthy of being privy to that. "Oh, we're doing something now."

Lucifer wanted to crawl into a big hole. His brother clearly knew the truth, and he and the detective were going back and forth over it. This was too much. Everyone was finding out. His father and the rest of his siblings probably knew as well, and if they didn't, they would soon.

"What's going on?" Azrael asked confused.

"Nothing!" Lucifer said loudly and quickly. He knew it was unlikely that he'd be able to keep the truth from her much longer, but he wasn't ready for her to find out. Azrael was his little sister. His favorite. He couldn't stand the idea of her knowing what had been done to him. "You should return to your work. I'm sure the dead can't wait too long."

Azrael looked at her brother like he'd grown a second head. "Are you crazy? Do you see what's going on here? Dad's on a rampage. There are storms and earthquakes happening around the whole world. People are going to get hurt."

"All the more reason for you to return to work, Azrael. Go now," Michael ordered.

Azrael sighed and glared at both her brothers before flying away.

"You need to leave as well, Human," Michael said to the woman still standing behind his brother.

Chloe ignored him and looked at Lucifer. "Do you want me to go?"

"What? No! You can't leave right now. It is too dangerous for you to travel in this," Lucifer said before pointing to the windows, where the raging storm could still be seen and didn't appear to be ready to stop anytime soon.

"No, I'd just go downstairs. It's up to you though. If you want me to stay, I don't care what this jackass has to say about it," Chloe said before turning her glare back to Michael briefly.

"Give me a few minutes with my brother," Lucifer said after a few moments of thought. He didn't really want to talk to Michael, especially knowing that he knew, but he didn't seem to have much choice, and it wouldn't help if Michael and the detective kept going at it.

Chloe nodded and squeezed his arm reassuringly before heading for the elevator.

"What do you want, Michael?" Lucifer asked, refusing to look his twin in the eye.

"I want to make things right. When you came to me about Adam and Eve, I….I never imagined that…"

"Stop!" Lucifer exclaimed. He didn't want to hear any more. He'd spent most of his day discussing this with Linda. He couldn't bear it anymore, and especially not with Michael. He hated that his brother even knew. "Who else knows?"

"Right now, just Father and Amenadiel."

Lucifer cringed and his hands began to shake. That was more than enough. He didn't want any of his family to know, particularly his father. And Lucifer knew it would only get worse. The others would eventually find out as well. His personal Hell was going to displayed to his entire family at some point.

"Amenadiel came to me after having a conversation with Eve," Michael said. He uttered the human's name as if it left a nasty taste in his mouth. "I guess she told him what you accused her of. It was quite stupid of her to mention it to Amenadiel of all people if she intended to continue to get away with her crime."

Lucifer scowled in annoyance. He was angry that Amenadiel had gone to Michael instead of him. If his brother had come to him, he could've found a way to get Amenadiel to keep the information to himself. Now, he didn't know how he could keep it.

"Amenadiel was trying to help you. He was trying to find out what happened and make sure justice was done if he turned out to be right," Michael said when he noticed the angry look on his brother's face.

"Why are you here, Michael?" Lucifer asked. His twin hadn't come here just to tell him that he knew what happened to him. He had to want something.

Michael sighed and walked towards the door to the balcony. He peered out of it. "These people are defective, abhorring creatures. I never believed they were worthy of their existence, but what they have done proves it! They are unpredictable and they had no one to give them direction. I never thought they could pose a threat to any of us, but they do."

"What is your point?" Lucifer asked. He decided not to argue with his brother on the pros and cons of humanity. It didn't matter now, and he suspected that there was some sort of direction to his brother's rant.

Michael turned back to face his brother. "You shouldn't be here around these despicable creatures! Don't subject yourself to them any longer. I know you had little choice before because your only other option was Hell, but that's not the case now. Come home with me."

Lucifer finally looked his brother in the eyes, and when he did, he looked at Michael as though he'd just spoken gibberish. "What?!"

"Let me take you back to the Silver City, where you belong. Father will not turn you away. Come home, Samael," Michael said. Despite his father's desire to wait, Michael knew he would welcome him home. He would be annoyed with Michael, but Samael would not be asked to leave.

"You're trying to tell me that Dad wants me to return? He kicked me out! I'm supposed to believe I'll sudden be welcome? Why? Because he learned the truth? I'm surprised it would even matter to him," Lucifer said.

"Look around, Brother. What's happening now is the result of Father's anger. No, his rage. I told him what Amenadiel suspected, and I've never seen such fury. It matters to him a great deal," Michael said.

Lucifer blinked a couple of times. It honestly had not computed yet that his father knowing the truth and the being's obvious rage were connected. He supposed he'd been too preoccupied with the fact that his secret was out for it to register. Still, he found it difficult to believe his father was angry on his behalf. "He's probably just angry that Adam and Eve made it to the Silver City."

"If that were true, he would've just sent Adam to Hell and moved on. When he saw what Adam and Eve had done, he almost destroyed Adam. Personally, I was alright with that, but Amenadiel thinks he needs more punishment than that. I suppose he's right," Michael said. He wanted Adam and Eve both destroyed. Actually, as far as he was concerned, all of humanity could go. However, he did want to see those who hurt his brother suffer.

"What do you mean 'saw'? F…Father looked into his mind. H…he saw?" Lucifer asked in a broken voice. That was even worse than everyone just knowing. His father had sifted through Adam's memories and seen exactly what Adam and Eve had done to them. His father had watched them rape him.

Michael cringed and nodded. He hated how broken his brother looked right now, but he could understand it. Well, sort of. He was aware of how victims of Rape saw what was done to them, but he had no actual experience with in. He wished Samael didn't either. "He had to know for sure that it was true. He figured it was, but he wanted to know definitively. He wants you to come home. He was planning to ask you once the Silver City is free from souls like Adam's, but I don't think we should wait that long. You should come home now."

Lucifer glared at his twin. "Why would I want to do that? Father abandoned me! You all did! Father kicked me out and you did his dirty work! All I wanted was to be free! I wanted what humans had so they couldn't hurt me anymore!"

Michael felt a big blow to his stomach. He didn't know that was what his brother wanted. He knew he wanted Free Will, but not why he wanted it so much. He doubted his father knew either. "Samael, I'm sorry."

"My name is Lucifer! Samael is as good as dead, has been since the Garden! And since you refused to even listen to what really happened!" Lucifer yelled.

"I didn't understand. I'm not sure I would've even if I had listened. I didn't know what that meant," Michael said.

"Neither did I!" Lucifer half yelled and half cried. "I had no word for what they did to me! I didn't know what it was! I didn't know who was to blame for it! Adam kept saying it was mine! I didn't know to believe any different!"

Michael was having a hard time not breaking down himself. He couldn't imagine what that must have been like, to know deep down that something awful was happening to you, but not what it was. Samael had to be so confused, as well as hurt. "It wasn't your fault. Those _humans_ were responsible for what they did to you. They will pay."

Lucifer was now sobbing uncontrollably. He fell to the floor and brought his knees to his chest. "I didn't know. I thought you could help me! I thought you'd help me understand, but you wouldn't. You didn't even listen."

Michael went over and sat down next to his brother. He put an arm around him. "I'm sorry. I promise you, brother, I will never make this mistake again. If you ever have something to confide in me again, I will listen to you."

Lucifer was too mentally exhausted to pull away from his brother's embrace, so he just sat there and cried harder.


	10. Chapter 10

Lucifer stood by the balcony the next morning, watching as the storm continued to rage. He hated it. It was like watching his father's rage, which in this case served as a reminder that his father knew his deepest secret. That every member of his family would soon enough.

Lucifer had sent Michael on his way maybe an hour after he broke down. He'd finally managed to gain control of his emotions and asked his twin to leave. The detective had returned from downstairs about ten minutes later, but, fortunately, she didn't try to get him to talk about it. She just sat with him, much like she had the night she found out the truth about him.

As if on cue, Lucifer soon heard footsteps walking towards him. He turned to see the detective coming his way. "Hello, Detective. Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah, considering there was an unnatural storm brewing outside. I'm guessing you didn't though," Chloe said.

Lucifer merely shrugged in response.

Chloe turned her attention to the storm, which if anything, seemed to be getting worse. "It doesn't seem like it's going to let up anytime soon. "I'm going to need to check up on Trixie, she's with Dan."

"You can't leave. It would be too dangerous right now," Lucifer said.

"I know. Don't worry, I'm not planning to go anywhere," Chloe assured him. She did wish she could physically check on her daughter, but it wouldn't do any good for her to risk her physical safety at this point. The storm had gotten worse since she arrived at Lucifer's, and occasionally, the earthquakes still happened. She would just have to hope that there was still cell service. There had been when she checked in with Dan and Trixie last night, but it had been pretty bad even then.

Just then, there was a loud thunder bolt that resonated throughout the penthouse. "Bloody Hell. Dad, stop it, please," Lucifer said almost pleadingly at the ceiling. He doubted his father would listen. He never listened to Lucifer.

Chloe took out her phone and tried to make a call, but there was no signal. "Damn."

"I'm sorry, Detective," Lucifer said.

"Lucifer, this is not your fault," Chloe said in a firm tone.

"It's happening because of me," Lucifer said. His father was angry because of something that happened to him, which Lucifer still didn't understand. That made him responsible.

"No, it happened because of Adam and Eve. You were a victim. This is their fault, not yours. And you know something? Your father is right to be angry. He's obviously furious, and he should be. Any parent would be. I'm upset that I can't get to my daughter right now, and I wish that God's anger wasn't taking such a physical form, but I don't blame you for that, or even really God," Chloe told him.

"I wish he'd stop," Lucifer muttered.

"I know. So, do you wanna talk about what happened with your brother?"

"He wants me to return to the Silver City. He doesn't think I should be around humans anymore. I guess he blames all humans for…. He's never been a fan of humans anyway," Lucifer said.

"Yeah, I noticed. Is that what your father wants, for you to go back to Heaven?" she asked.

"Michael says so. He said Dad was going to wait to talk to me about it, but that he'd welcome me back," Lucifer said.

"Do you want to go back?" Chloe asked. She didn't want him to leave, but she could understand if he wanted to go. Humans overall hadn't been good to Lucifer. She imagined being on Earth was better than Hell, but still couldn't relish being vilified by humanity. She was honestly surprised Lucifer didn't hate humans. They'd been awful to him from the very start.

"I told Michael I wouldn't go. This is my home now," Lucifer said.

"I'm glad you feel that way, Lucifer. I don't think I would if I were you. Still, I'm sure a part of you wants to go back, even if just to visit. Do you?" Chloe said. She was glad Lucifer wanted to stay, but that didn't mean he couldn't go back every once and while if he wanted. It didn't have to be all or nothing, at least she hoped not.

"I…I shouldn't want to. I've always said I hate it there," Lucifer said. The problem was that a part of him did want to go back, if only to see if he was truly welcome. He didn't understand why. He hadn't felt the urge before, and with his family slowly finding out the truth about him, it should make him even less inclined to go back.

"It's easy to hate someplace your forbidden to go, especially if deep down, you really don't. I think it was your way of coping with being kicked out," Chloe said.

Lucifer snorted. "That sounds like something Linda would say."

"It was your home, Lucifer. It makes sense that a part of you would miss it, even if you didn't realize it. It makes sense that you'd want to return," Chloe said.

"It became a hell for me," Lucifer said.

"I know. Adam and Eve made it that way. Maybe that's even more of a reason to go back. Maybe you need to face what they did to you and make Heaven what it was meant to be again," Chloe said.

"Do you want me to go?" Lucifer asked with hurt laced in his voice. He thought they were okay again, but she seemed to be trying to convince him to leave.

"No, I want you to get through all this. I know you won't get past it, but you can move on and heal from it, and I think a part of that might be going back, especially since I think a part of you wants to," Chloe said.

"I told you that this is my home. I don't lie," Lucifer said defensively.

"I know you don't. I believe that you think of Earth as home, but that doesn't mean that Heaven can't be too. Plus, like I said, going doesn't mean you have to stay. If you go, I hope you do come back," Chloe told him.

"For all I know Michael's lying or wrong. Father may not want me there at all," Lucifer said. He couldn't deny that he feared that. Michael said their father wanted him to go back, but Lucifer could show up, and his father could toss him out again. Although, Lucifer wasn't sure why he cared. He shouldn't care what his father thought about him.

"I don't think that's true. Look around. What is happening now is proof that your father cares about you," Chloe said. She then looked back outside at the storm, which seemed to be slowing down just a little. It was still raining pretty good, but it seemed to be a little less intense, plus, the thunder had turned into small rumbles with the occasional lightening. "It seems to actually be calming down. It seems like your father heard you earlier."

Lucifer just shrugged in response.

Soon, they both heard the ding of the elevator. They both walked towards it find Eve coming off smiling.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Chloe asked angrily.

"How did you even get up here? The club is closed and no one's here to let you in due to the apocalyptic storm going on," Lucifer said.

"Yeah, the storm is crazy, isn't it? I heard it's happening everywhere. Anyway, the parking garage is open. I found your private entrance. I was hoping I could talk to you alone," Eve said as she looked over at Chloe in disappointment.

"So you could try to force yourself on him again," Chloe asked as she stepped in front of her partner. She knew Lucifer could take care of himself, but she also knew that he understandably didn't want Eve near him.

"That's not what happened. He must be saying that for your sake. Tell her, Lucifer. We had a great time together," Eve said.

"I don't lie," Lucifer snarled.

"But it's not what happened. You loved it. Adam said…"

"Your husband was a rapist! So are you. Who the hell cares what he said? What did Lucifer say? He said no! He begged you to leave him alone! But you're rapists, so of course you didn't listen," Chloe said in disgust.

"He didn't mean…"

"Shut up! I will not listen to you explain away Lucifer's lack of consent. He told you no, and you continued to violate him. Now you're here trying to do it again. Well, it's not going to happen. I will not let you hurt him again, and I get the feeling that I will not be the only one in line to stop you," she said.

"I didn't do anything. Tell her, Luce," Eve said before trying to walk around Chloe to get to him.

Lucifer immediately backed up while Chloe pushed the woman away.

"Back off!"

"Get the hell away from my brother!" another voice yelled.

They all turned to see Amenadiel in the middle of the room with his wings out.

Lucifer looked down at the floor to avoid Amenadiel's eyes. He could not face his older brother knowing that he knew the truth.

Amenadiel was livid. This pathetic human had already hurt his brother countless times. Now she was daring to accost him again in his own home. He was going to make her pay for that, and he would make sure his father did too.

"Hi, Amenadiel. Why do you seem so angry?" Eve asked.

Amenadiel put his wings away before stalking forward and grabbing her by the arms. "How dare you come here?! How dare you force my brother into your presence after everything you've done?!"

"I didn't do anything. I told you, he's…"

"If you know what's good for you, you will shut up! My orders are to return you to the Silver City, but I don't think my father will care if you're not in perfect condition," Amenadiel said in a threatening tone.

"What? No, I don't want to go back there. It's so boring," Eve whined.

"Oh, I promise you, you won't be bored for long, and I imagine your stay will be short. You are being brought back to stand trial for what you did to my brother. You will suffer for that!" Amenadiel snarled as he shook her.

"I guess God doesn't have a statute of limitations," Chloe said with a smirk. She was glad to see that Eve would answer for what she did to Lucifer. It killed her that there was nothing she could do to bring this woman down, but it seemed that someone could.

" I didn't do anything," Eve protested.

Amenadiel ignored her and turned his attention to his brother. "Luci?"

"Get her out of here," Lucifer said without looking at his brother.

"I'm so sorry, Luci," Amenadiel said before summoning his wings again and disappearing with Eve.

Chloe turned to Lucifer and gently took him into her arms.

Lucifer held onto the Detective as hard as he could and relished in her comfort.


	11. Chapter 11

God stood in his office by the large window that looked down at the Silver City. He saw that his children were worried. He felt their anxiety. He wished to take that away from them, but he wasn't sure he could, given how angry he was.

God had forced himself to calm down quite a bit for Samael's sake. His son had asked him to stop the storms. God felt the least he could do was oblige his son. Samael was clearly upset by what God's anger meant. God did not want to upset his son any more than he already was. He hadn't managed calm himself down enough to stop the storms entirely, but they had calmed considerably.

Just then, God heard a knock at the door, "Enter." Seconds later, he heard the door open and close, followed by Amenadiel's voice.

"Father, I've brought Eve back as you requested. I wasn't sure if you wanted to see her," Amenadiel said as he held Eve tightly by the arm.

God finally turned around and glowered at the woman in his son's grasp. He flashed back to seeing this vile creature in Adam's mind as they violated his son over and over again, as they enjoyed every second of it. He wanted nothing more than to end her existence now, as he'd nearly done with Adam. His son's need for justice was the only thing that stopped him.

As God moved forward, he could see the fear in her eyes grow more and more. He relished in it. She should be afraid after what she'd done to his child. "Hello, Eve."

Eve was uncomfortable. She hadn't seen God since the Garden. He didn't bother with her or any other soul once they reached Heaven, so the last time she'd seen him was when she and Adam had been banished from the Garden. The way he looked at her made it clear he didn't have good intentions towards her now.

"I suppose I should commend you on being the first soul to figure out a way out of the Silver City. Though no one before has felt the need to try before. Perhaps you realized even before I that you don't belong here," God said.

"I doubt that, Father. She doesn't think she's done anything wrong," Amenadiel said.

"No? Well, I'll have to fix that. I'm curious, where did you find her, son?" God asked.

"With Lucifer. She was trying to… _touch_ him," Amenadiel said with disgust.

The room began to rock as God's anger intensified. "You went after my son again?! You dare continue to force yourself on him?!"

"N…no, I didn't do anything…"

"Silence!" God bellowed, his voice taking on a super powerful tone. "I am moments away from eradicating you from existence! Do not test me!"

Eve gulped and remained silent. Apparently even she wasn't stupid enough to push her luck right now.

"I know what you did to my son. I have seen Adam's memories. No doubt I would see the same in yours if I could stomach looking. You will suffer for what you did to my son! You were one of the first humans to exist. Had I known what you'd done to my son, you would've been the last. And the actions of you and your husband may still be the end to humanity," God told her. He hadn't made a decision on that yet, but currently, he saw no benefit of allowing humanity to remain. As far as he was concerned, it was an experiment that failed. Adam and Eve were far from the only example of such failures. There were many, many like them.

"Father…" Amenadiel started.

"Lock her away. If I have to look at her much longer, I will destroy her," God said.

Amenadiel was hesitant. He wanted to talk with his father about what he just said. He had been afraid his father might consider destroying humanity, and those fears were just confirmed. He had to convince his father not to do that. Not all humans were like Adam and Eve.

"Now, Amenadiel," God said in a tone that left no room for argument.

Reluctantly, Amenadiel pulled Eve from the room. He ran into Michael as they past, who glared coldly at Eve. Amenadiel nodded to him and went on his way.

Michael entered his father's office and closed the door. "You wanted to see me, Father?"

"You disobeyed me, didn't you, Michael? You went to see Samael when I told you to leave him be," God said. He'd been fairly certain where Michael had gone when he felt him leave the Silver City.

"Yes," Michael admitted.

"Explain yourself," God ordered.

"Father, I know you said you wanted to wait, but I think you're wrong. Samael shouldn't be around those creatures even a moment longer. He belongs here with us," Michael said.

"I told you why I wanted to wait. Besides, you don't decide where Samael belongs. That is no more your decision than it is mine. Samael will decide where he wishes to be. I will not take it from him again," God said firmly.

Michael nodded. "Father, Samael told me that he fought so hard for Free Will because he wanted to make sure no one could hurt him again."

"Yes, I suspected as much," God said before going over to his desk and sitting down. He'd been thinking a lot about his son's rebellion and why it happened. This new information changed a lot about that. It made God think of the possible explanations for what happened, and what Michael had just told him was one of the things he thought about. "It is all the more reason that I will not force my desires on him. Neither will you."

"That's not what I did. I asked him to come back. I didn't try to make him. I just told him that he could. You wouldn't make him leave if he came back now, would you?" Michael asked.

"Of course not, but there's something you failed to consider when you asked him to do that so soon. Besides the fact that he may not want to while Adam and Eve are still here, as well as many other unworthy human souls. Your siblings don't know what has happened yet. They would not have welcomed him if he'd chosen to come back with you. They would've made things harder for him. I don't think he needs that right now, do you?" God asked.

"No. Will you tell them? They need to know it's not Samael's fault," Michael stated.

"I will tell them what they need to know, but I will not leak personal information without Samael's permission," God said.

"Does that mean you're going to go see him?" Michael asked.

"As soon as I can, yes. You are not to push him any further, Michael. I imagine he already told you no to coming back at this time," God said.

Michael nodded. "I understand, Father."

"Dismissed. Continue with your task of checking souls," God said.

Michael turned and walked out.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Many hours later, God deemed his temper under control enough to meet with all of his children. He did need to tell them something. He didn't want them to continue to worry, so he had them meet in a conference room. He sat at the head of a large rectangular table that took up the majority of the room. His children were seated all around him. "I know you're all concerned. You've all witnessed the effects of my anger."

Almost all of the occupants of the room looked nervous, unsure of what their father had been so angry about, and what would come of that anger.

"I want to assure you all that I am not angry at any of you, and I apologize for upsetting you. I cannot assure you that my anger will not persist, but you need not fear it," God told them.

"What has you so angry, Father," Gabriel, a man with dirty blond hair said to Michael's right.

"I will not discuss that just yet, son, but it is nothing that you need to fear right now," God assured him.

"Does it have to do with the soul evaluations?" Raphael asked. He sat next to Amenadiel and had black, wavy hair.

God sighed. "Suffice it to say that it has come to my attention that some souls that don't belong have made it into Heaven. Yes, it is connected, but that is all I will say on the subject right now.

The angels all nodded that they understood.

"There is one more matter to discuss. I have been rethinking a decision of mine for a while now. Samael's banishment has been voided effective immediately," he told them.

There was immediate chatter amongst God's children. Some protested while others were happy.

"That's enough!" God said in a firm tone. "My decision on this matter is final. Should Samael choose to come home, and I believe at some point he will, he will not be stopped. There will be no feuds, nor glares sent his way. You will welcome him or leave him be. Is that clear!"

"Yes, Father," they all eventually stated.

"Good. You are all dismissed," God told him before watching as they got up and filed out.


	12. Chapter 12

Lucifer found himself sitting with Linda in her living room. The storm finally calmed down enough for the detective to go home, and Lucifer decided he really needed a session. "Thank you for seeing me last minute."

"It's no problem. I told you to call anytime if you needed me," Linda reminded him. Since their last session, she was treating Lucifer as an emergency patient. He'd been through a very traumatizing event. Yes, it had happened several lifetimes ago, but he was only just starting to deal with it now. Plus, one of the people who had hurt him had come back into his life. That was more than enough to trigger a possible breakdown. She wanted to be on hand in case that happened. "Did something happen?"

Lucifer nodded. "My brother, Michael, came to see me. My father knows everything. So does Michael and so does Amenadiel. Everyone in my family will know soon enough. I don't know what to do. I don't want any of them knowing." While he had attempted to tell his brother the truth once, it was out of desperation, and a part of him was grateful Michael hadn't believed him. A part of him was also angry about it, but he was also glad that no one found out.

Linda wasn't surprised that this would send Lucifer reeling. Many rape victims feared what happened to them getting out. Yes, Lucifer had chosen to tell a couple of people, but that didn't mean he was ready for the world to find out. His family finding out the truth would be a big blow for him, especially considering that finding this out could change a lot in regard to how they saw him. "Your brother told you this?"

"Yeah. Apparently Eve said something to Amenadiel. He went to Michael, and they both went to my father," Lucifer said bitterly. He was still annoyed that Amenadiel had gone to Michael instead of talking to him. He wouldn't have been happy with just Amenadiel knowing either, but he could've at least prevented anyone else from finding out. Well, unless his father was watching, but given that he hadn't found out until Amenadiel opened his mouth, Lucifer doubted his father had been watching.

"Eve told Amenadiel? Doesn't that seem a little unwise under the circumstances?" Linda asked. This woman had raped Amenadiel's brother. Why on Earth would she tell him that? It seemed like suicide to do such a thing. Linda supposed she shouldn't be trying to understand a rapist though. She didn't really want to know what went through the mind of someone who could do what Eve did.

"Oh, not in her mind. Eve thinks she did nothing wrong, which was probably what she was trying to get across to Amenadiel. She still considers me a willing participant. She thinks what happened was fun for both of us," Lucifer said in utter disgust.

Linda could feel the bile begin to build up in the back of her throat. This was why she didn't try to get into the head of a rapist. She had known therapists who did specialize in that, but she never understood it. She would much rather focus her attention on their victims.

"I wonder if she still thinks so now that she's been dragged back to face Divine justice," Lucifer said, mostly to himself.

"Your father had Eve brought back to Heaven? How do you feel about that? How do you feel knowing that those who hurt you will suffer?" Linda asked.

"I don't know! I'm still trying to deal with the fact that my father knows, and that it bothers him. It clearly does though. The storms are evidence of that," Lucifer said.

Linda surmised with that statement that the thunderstorms and earthquakes were caused by God. She had wondered if those things were caused by celestials, as they had been happening all over the world. She'd tried to get in touch with Amenadiel several times to get his take on them, but he never answered her. Dealing with the truth about Lucifer would explain why. "Your father caused the strange weather. That surprises you?"

"Of course. I never expected my father to care. Why would he? He tossed me out. He hated me. Why should he care if someone hurt me? Michael says he does though, and evidence does point to that. Michael even says Dad wants me to return to the Silver City," Lucifer told her.

Linda could see now why Lucifer was so upset. It wasn't just that his father knew, though that was enough to send him reeling. It was that he could no longer be certain of relations between his family. Things changed. He was no longer banished from his home, and he was faced with the knowledge that his father still cared a great deal about what happened to him. It was a lot to deal with. "Tell me how you're feeling right now, Lucifer. Are you feeling overwhelmed?"

"Yes! And confused. And… I don't want anyone to know. I don't want _him_ to know," Lucifer said. He ended his response in a shaky tone.

"Do you feel ashamed?" Linda asked.

Lucifer looked down at his hands and refused to answer.

"Lucifer, the way you're feeling is normal for someone who has been through what you have, but please understand that you have no reason to be ashamed. What happened was not your fault. You were assaulted," Linda said.

"I was weak," Lucifer said.

"No, you weren't. You were attacked. That does not mean that you're weak. People like this figure out what to say and do to exploit other people. That's what happened. You told me how it happened. Adam and Eve exploited your fears to get away with hurting you. They made sure you couldn't defend yourself or ask for help. They are to blame, not you, and I believe your family will see that. Clearly, your father does. He is insuring that they pay for what they've done to you," Linda told him.

"Perhaps," Lucifer said. Honestly, he didn't know what his father believed. He heard of his father's reaction second hand. He knew his father was angry, but everything else really came from Michael. It wasn't that Lucifer thought that Michael was lying. He just wasn't sure he could believe anything that didn't come straight from his father. At the same time though, he feared seeing his father. His father knew everything. Lucifer wasn't sure he could face him knowing that. In the thousands of years since Lucifer was banned from Heaven, he never feared seeing his father again. He even envisioned punching his lights out several times, but he wasn't afraid of the possible encounter until now.

Just then, they both heard a knock, followed by the door opening and closing.

"Linda, are you here?" Amenadiel's voice rang out.

"Bloody hell," Lucifer whispered to himself.

Amenadiel made his way to the living room seconds later. "Linda, I'm sorry to barge in, but…" He trailed off when he caught sight of his brother. He hadn't known his brother would be there. He'd flown directly to the front door, so he hadn't seen Lucifer's car.

"Amenadiel, you can't be here right now," Linda said in a firm tone. This was why she rarely ever took house calls, even for emergency patients. She'd usually find a way to meet them at the office, because someone could just show up at her house at any time. But she'd made an exception today, mostly due to the weather. It wasn't terrible now, but she hadn't wanted to chance it getting bad again. Plus, Lucifer had sounded desperate on the phone.

"Luci," Amenadiel said, completely ignoring Linda's words.

Lucifer refused to meet his brother's eyes.

"Lucifer, look at me please," Amenadiel said. His brother hadn't been able to look him in the eye the last time they saw each other either. He knew Lucifer knew that he knew the truth about him, and that was obviously distressing him.

"Amenadiel, we're in the middle of a session. I really need you to go," Linda said.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know he'd be here. I came because I received your messages. I'm sorry I didn't answer before. I was in the Silver City and then I was looking for Eve," Amenadiel said.

"It's okay. We can talk later," she said.

"I'm not sure we can. I'm not sure there will be a later for much longer," Amenadiel said. He really feared his father's next move, and how soon it would be before he made it.

Lucifer rolled his eyes at his brother's melodrama. "Oh, don't be overdramatic. The storms are stopping. The world isn't going to end."

Amenadiel opened his mouth to say something, but then stopped. It really wasn't fair for him to put this on his brother. Lucifer was already going through enough. It wouldn't be fair to also put the possible extinction of humanity on his shoulders too. At the same time though, he thought Lucifer would want to know. Humanity was important to Lucifer.

Lucifer finally looked at his brother and saw the hesitance on his face. "What?"

"It's not your problem," Amenadiel said.

"Oh, don't give me that. Speak," Lucifer said forcefully.

Amenadiel sighed. "You can't imagine how angry Father is right now. Well, I guess you can a little. It has made itself known. I've never seen him so angry. Adam and Eve were humanity's first examples."

Lucifer flinched a bit at their names, but said nothing else.

"Father may just decide that their actions prove humanity shouldn't continue," Amenadiel said.

"Wait, are you saying he might destroy us?" Linda asked in an unsettled tone.

Amenadiel nodded.

"Don't be ridiculous. Humans are Dad's favorite creation. He's not going to destroy them," Lucifer said. Yes, his father had created storms and earthquakes in his anger that had undoubtedly caused damage to a few humans, but it was a far cry from consciously wiped them all from existence.

"Luci, whatever you may think, Father does not love humans more than he does you, and right now, I don't think he has even the slightest tolerance for humanity. He has point blank said that he might just destroy them," Amenadiel told him. This really frightened him, not just for the humans he'd come to care about, but also for his unborn child. His son was part human. Would his father wipe him out too? Even if he didn't, he would be doing so to the child's mother if he did this. Amenadiel understood his father's anger, but not every human deserved to suffer because of what Adam and Eve had done.

"He said that?" Lucifer asked in disbelief.

"He said that he was thinking of ending humanity, yes. He said it to Eve, so he could've been trying to frighten her, but I was worried he might do it even before he said it," Amenadiel explained.

Lucifer sighed. Well, it seemed he had no choice now. He'd been considering going back to the Silver City at some point briefly, mostly because of things the detective said, but he wasn't planning to do so in the near future. It was more like maybe in a decade or two.. Now he had to. He had to speak to his father. Another thing he didn't want to do anytime soon. He couldn't chance anything happening to the people he cared about. "Michael stated that I'd be welcome in the Silver City if I chose to return. Was he right?"

Amenadiel nodded. "You can go back anytime you want. Father has made it clear that no one is to stand in your way."

"Do… Do the others know everything?" Lucifer asked. He hoped not. He didn't think he could stomach going back if they all knew.

"No."

Lucifer got up. "I guess we should go then."

"You're going back to Heaven now?" Linda asked.

"I have to. My father may destroy humanity because of something that happened to me. I have to stop him," Lucifer said.

Linda nodded. She worried that Lucifer wasn't ready for this, but she worried more that the entire world would be destroyed if he didn't go.

Amenadiel summoned his wings and took flight first.

Lucifer followed his brother, setting out for the Silver City for the first time in eons.


	13. Chapter 13

Lucifer landed outside the gates of the Silver City, a place he hadn't been in millennia. Amenadiel was waiting for him when he arrived. Lucifer could hardly believe he was about to walk through those gates for the first time in so long. He had mixed emotions about it. A part of him yearned to be here, in the place he'd called home for so long, despite the fact that he'd told himself he hated it for so long. The detective pointed out that he told himself he hated it to cope with being kicked out. Perhaps she was right. However, there was a part of him that didn't want to be there, that saw Heaven as Hell, thanks to Adam and Eve, and to a lesser extent, his father. He also wasn't ready to face his father knowing he knew the truth. Then there was the fact that he still questioned whether or not he'd be welcome. Amenadiel and Michael had both assured him he was, but a part of him still expected to be shunned the moment he stepped through the gates.

"It's okay, Luci," Amenadiel assured him, figuring out at least part of what his brother was thinking. "Nothing's going to happen. No one will stop you."

Lucifer took a deep breath and gently pushed the doors open. If he was going to do this, it had to be now, before the part of his brain that told him to run won over. He hesitantly stepped inside and got his first look of the Silver City in eons. He still expected to be rejected by his siblings, but he wasn't, not in the way he was expecting. He saw several of them when he stepped through. They all looked at him, many with contempt, but not a single one of them attempted to stop him, even if they wanted to."

"See? No one's gonna do anything. They've been forbidden to," Amenadiel said. He then led the way through the City. He figured his brother would prefer to walk to their father's quarters instead of flying. It would give him time to prepare himself. He felt kind of bad because he knew his brother wasn't ready for this. He was only doing it because Amenadiel had dropped the danger to humans in his lap.

Lucifer followed his brother until his father's home came into view. Then he stopped. His heart began to race. He was scared. He wasn't afraid of his father exactly, but he was afraid to face him knowing that his father knew everything. He also worried about what his father would expect from him now. For thousands of years, he knew what he was in his father's eyes. He knew what the old man wanted from him, even if Lucifer hadn't given it to him in the last few years. Now, he didn't know what to expect. Would he insist Lucifer return to the Silver City permanently? Or would his welcome back be temporary? Would he be sent back to Hell? The unknown worried him. He just wasn't ready to do this yet

Amenadiel noticed his brother had stopped following him and turned to him. "Luci, you okay? Are you coming?"

Lucifer shook his head. He hated himself for being so insecure and frightened. He felt like a boy again, and he hated that. But he wasn't prepared to face his father just yet. "No, I don't want to go yet. I'm going to walk for a while."

"I'll come with you," Amenadiel offered.

"No, I want to be alone," Lucifer said before walking away before his brother could argue.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Lucifer wasn't entirely sure why or how he'd gotten to the cells in the Silver City. Somehow he'd just ended up there. He supposed perhaps a part of him needed to see them locked up for what they did to him. It was sort of ironic since all he'd wanted since Eve showed up at Lux was to get as far away from her as he could. Now he was voluntarily going to see both her and Adam.

As Lucifer opened the door that led to the cells, she could hear both Adam and Eve.

"We didn't do anything wrong," Eve whined.

"Shut up! This is your fault. If you hadn't gone down there, no one would know anything!" Adam yelled at her.

Lucifer shut the door, making his presence known. As he walked towards them, he felt a bit of satisfaction seeing them behind bars. Of course, it was followed by nausea at being so close to them, but he could deal with it to see them like this.

"Lucifer! That is you, right?" Eve asked. She wasn't entirely sure it was him because this was Heaven, and Lucifer's twin resided here, but there were subtle differences in the two men. This man was dressed just like Lucifer dressed when he was on Earth. The way he looked at her also seemed similar, even though she didn't understand why he'd look at her with such contempt.

Lucifer merely nodded in response.

Adam, meanwhile, sent Lucifer a sick smile. "Hello, Samael. It's been such a long time, hasn't it. I can honestly say I've missed you."

Lucifer stomach turned even further if that was possible.

"Lucifer, you have to get us out of here. You have to tell your father we didn't do anything wrong. You know what happened was what we all wanted. You have to tell him…"

"Shut up, Eve. I am tired of listening to your bloody stupidity! The fact that you're an idiot doesn't make what you did to me anything other than what it was. You raped me! I will not lift a finger to help you. No, I will enjoy seeing what my father does with you. It will probably be the first time in thousands of years that I will actually be grateful to him," Lucifer snarled.

"What about you?" Adam asked with an evil smirk. "Your father may be angry at us now, but it won't be long until he turns on you. He'll realize how weak you were. How you did nothing to stop it. In fact, you kept coming back."

"You threatened me!" Lucifer yelled.

"Oh, but I'm just a weak human. You could've stopped me if you wanted. You know you wanted it deep down. Your father will see that. That's why you kept your mouth shut for so long. Of course, you never should've opened it to begin with. You had us banished from the Garden. Don't worry though, I had my revenge for that," Adam said smugly.

"What?" Lucifer asked confused.

Adam laughed. "The world had to hear about the Devil from someone, right?"

Lucifer shook his head. "No. That rumor didn't start getting around until at least a century after I arrived in Hell. You were dead by then."

"True, but all I had to do was start spreading it. I told my children, who continued to pass it down our line. The stories just kept growing until it became the norm," Adam said.

Lucifer was in shock. He'd always thought his father was responsible for that, or at the very least, some of his siblings had done it with his father's permission. He didn't think humans could've vilified them completely on their own. He figured someone had to tell them something. But he hadn't been taking Adam and Eve into consideration. "You told humans that I was responsible for their sins?"

Adam smirked in response. "It's your own fault. If you'd kept your mouth shut, everything could've been different. None of us would've been banished, and the three of us could've kept having our fun."

"You bastard!" Lucifer fumed. He realized now that everything that happened to him was because of Adam and Eve. He certainly didn't absolve his father for sending him to Hell, but at the end of the day, none of it would've happened if not for what Adam and Eve did to him.

"Oh, don't blame me, you were the one that ruined things. And why? Deep down you know you loved it," Adam said. He then reached through the bars and took ahold of Lucifer's arm.

Lucifer went stiff as he found this sick bastard's hands on him once more. "Let go!"

"Oh, it's been so long since I've felt body. Your touch is as lovely as ever. How about you show me those wings again?" Adam asked.

Lucifer flashed back to the Garden. He recalled himself being held down by Adam while the human ran his hands down his entire body. At this moment, Lucifer felt like he was back there. That's what he felt as Adam had his hands on him and spoke to him the same way he had back then. And just like then, he felt powerless to stop it.

Now, however, Lucifer realized that he wasn't powerless. He could fight against Adam, and he did. He yanked his arm back forcefully and took a few steps back "Get off of me!"

What happened next happened quick and caught Lucifer off guard. He saw Adam go flying into the wall just before feeling more hands on his person. This caused more anxiety and fear. He couldn't even register that it couldn't be either Adam or Eve touching him. It didn't matter who had their hands on him. He needed them off. "Get off."

Lucifer struggled but the arms on him didn't let up. They pulled him away from Adam and Eve and away from Heaven's cells. He tried to struggle, but whoever had him was stronger than Adam, and he still hadn't registered who it was, too trapped in his anxiety. "Let me go! Get off of me!"

The hands finally let go once Lucifer was away from the cells. He immediately took several steps back from whoever it was. "Don't touch me!"

"Alright, I'm sorry. I just wanted to get you out of there. I did not mean to make things worse."

Lucifer finally calmed down enough to open his eyes and see who was in front of him. He found himself staring at his father, who had his hands up in surrender. "Dad?"

"It's okay, son. No one's going to hurt you anymore. Can you take some deep breaths for me? It'll help you calm down a little. Sit down too. There's a bench right behind you,' God told him.

Lucifer did as his father suggested. He sat down and took a couple of deep breaths. Once he did, he felt kind of foolish for losing it so badly. Yes, it was horrible to have Adam touch him, but Eve had touched him without causing that kind of reaction. Maybe it was because Adam was more brutal than Eve.

"That's it. Are you doing a little better, son?" God asked gently.

Lucifer looked around to find that they had an audience. Five of his siblings were standing a few feet away watching them. They had to have seen Lucifer's meltdown. "Oh, bloody hell!"

God followed his son's eyes to his other children. He immediately shooed them away with a hand gesture before turning back to Samael. "Why did you come here, Samael? You should not be here."

"Michael and Amenadiel said it was okay," Lucifer said without looking at his father. He hated that he felt so insecure when talking to his father. He hated that he felt hurt that his father apparently didn't want him there after all. He should be telling his father he hated him. He should be punching him, not sitting there dejectedly, like a child.

"No, I'm not talking about the Silver City. You are more than welcome here. I am talking about here at the cells. You should not be anywhere near them, especially right now. Why did you come?" God asked again.

"I don't know. I guess I just had to," Lucifer said. He looked around again, worried more of his siblings would show up and see him as he was.

God could see his son's distress. "Why don't you come back with me to my quarters? I think you need some rest, and then we should talk."

"Do I have a choice?" Lucifer asked almost bitterly. He doubted it. His father didn't give choices.

"Yes, of course. You may go where you please. Well, almost anywhere. I don't want you going to Adam and Eve's cell again, at least not alone, but you may go anywhere else. However, as I said, I think you need to rest. I can see you haven't gotten much of that. You can do so in my quarters. Will you come with me?" God asked.

"I guess," Lucifer said before standing up. He decided he might as well. He did come back to speak to his father.

God smiled slightly and led the way to his quarters.


	14. Chapter 14

Lucifer woke up the next morning in a room in his father's quarters. He remembered his father bringing him back to his quarters and coaxing him into sleeping. Normally, Lucifer would fight anything his father suggested, even sleeping, but he had no energy. He was exhausted. Even before the small meltdown he'd had after seeing Adam and Eve, he was physically and emotionally spent. He hadn't really slept well since Eve showed up at Lux for the first time. So, yes, he'd needed to sleep. Even the importance of his reason for going to see his father in the first place had been forgotten with the state he was in

Lucifer found that he actually slept pretty well. He suspected his father had something to do with that, even though he wasn't sure why his father would bother. He certainly doubted he could've slept that well all on his own after the last several days.

A part of Lucifer wanted to stay in bed forever in order to avoid facing his father, but he knew he couldn't. For one, his father wouldn't allow him to avoid him forever. For another, he'd come to see his father for a reason, and that still needed to be fulfilled.

Lucifer pulled himself out of bed. He knew he had to be tired the night before because he was still fully clothed. He brushed himself off a bit and walked out of the room. His father's quarters were quite large, so it took him a few minutes to walk from the bedroom he was in to the kitchen, where he found his father seated at the table with a large spread of breakfast foods on top of it.

God smiled when his son entered the room. "Good morning, son. Have a seat and help yourself," he said as he gestured to the food.

Lucifer hesitated for a minute. A part of him was starving, but the other part of him was so anxious that he couldn't stomach the thought of eating. Finally, hunger won out, and he pulled some bacon and eggs onto a plate before sitting down in the chair across from his father.

"I trust you've gotten a good night sleep?" God asked.

"Shouldn't you know? You made me sleep," Lucifer said.

"No, I kept you asleep. You needed it. I'm guessing you haven't gotten a lot of sleep lately," God said.

Lucifer merely shrugged in response before taking a bite of his eggs.

"I was surprised when I realized you'd come home, but it was not an unwelcome one. I was actually planning to come see you soon. I didn't think you'd be comfortable coming here just yet," God commented.

Well, now Lucifer knew he wasn't going to be able to avoid seeing his father one way or another. If he hadn't come here, his father would've come to him. "Why?"

"Eat, son. We can talk afterwards," God assured him.

Reluctantly, Lucifer did so. He was hungry, so that squashed any need Lucifer had to be defiant at the moment. He quickly finished off his food and watched as his father waved his hand, clearing the table within moments.

God stood up from his seat. "Let's talk in the living room. You'll be more comfortable there."

Lucifer doubted he'd be comfortable anywhere, but he got up and followed his father into the living room anyway.

God sat down on a large, leather white couch while his son took a seat on a matching loveseat. "It's been a long time since we've spoken, Samael."

"Who's fault is that? And my name is Lucifer," Lucifer bit out.

"I realize that it's my fault, son," God said. All of this was his fault. Not only had he let his anger get the better of him, but his anger was completely misplaced. His son had not been the problem. The humans he created had been.

Lucifer looked surprised. He expected his father to place the blame on him. He never expected the man to take any responsibility of it himself.

"That surprises you. I know I'm not perfect, and if I hadn't known that before, that fact very much slapped me in the face recently," God said.

Lucifer looked away, not wanting to deal with his father's knowledge of what happened to him. He decided instead to get right to point. "I came because I don't want you to destroy humanity."

God's eyes darkened at his son's words. He was more than a little irritated after hearing what his son had to say, though his annoyance wasn't directed at Samael. It was instead for his eldest, because he knew that was where his son had gotten the information from. "Your brother had no business discussing that with you. That is not something you should have to concern yourself with."

"How's that, Dad? You're doing it because of me," Lucifer said.

"First of all, Samael, I have done nothing yet. I have not made a decision one way or the other as of now. Second, it is not because of you. Whatever happens is not on you. It is on them," God said firmly.

"But it's not every human's fault. Only two of them are guilty," Lucifer said while avoiding his father's eyes.

"Only two are guilty of harming you, and I assure you, they will pay for that, but they are not the only two guilty of despicable acts. There are countless humans who have done the same or worse." God said.

"So what? You would've left them alone if you hadn't found out about… me," Lucifer said as he looked down. His hands began to shake just at the mention of all of this.

"If I had known when it happened, they wouldn't exist at all. I would've ended it with Adam and Eve before they even had the chance to reproduce. A large part of me doesn't see why it shouldn't end with them now," God said.

Lucifer looked back up at his father in disbelief. He was hearing that not only did his father want him avenged, but that he would've destroyed his favorite creations before they really took form for him. None of that made any sense to him. "Why?"

God looked forward to get a bit closer to his son. "Why? Because they tortured my son. I need no other reason."

"But they are your favorite creations," Lucifer said.

"They may have at one time been my favorite _creations_ , but they are not my children. You are my child. You are where my concern lies."

"Since when?" Lucifer asked bitterly. "You hate me! I wanted to have me killed, just as you want to do with humanity!"

God rose to his feet with a seething look in his eyes. "Who told you that? Who filled your head with such a vicious lie."

"You're saying you weren't going to kill me?" Lucifer asked.

God took a step forward before gently pulling his son to his feet and placing his hands on his shoulders. "Samael, no matter how angry I may have been at you at any given time, there is not one single moment that I so much as entertained the idea of ending your existence. There is not one moment of your life that I have ever regretted that you were my son. Do you understand?"

Lucifer nodded after a few moments. He should probably be more skeptical, but after listening to his father's words and seeing his eyes, Lucifer believed him. That didn't mean all was forgiven after the bastard sent him to Hell, but it was nice to know his father had never planned his death. Of course, that also meant his mother lied to him and manipulated him, again, which had him seething quite a bit.

"Your mother told you this, didn't she?" God asked. It was barely a question. His ex-wife was the only he could think of that would have the nerve to do this. None of his other children would dare go so far in their anger. And God knew his ex would have no qualms about turning their son even further against him. He imagined she enjoyed it.

Lucifer nodded again.

"She's lucky you sent her to her own world," God fumed. Not that would necessarily stop him. He could go to any world he wanted. However, at the moment, he had more important things on his plate, and Adam and Eve were still the center of his wrath. "I suppose she's not the only one to blame anyway. She would've had no leverage if I hadn't lost my temper."

Lucifer pulled away from his father and stepped back.

"I was really angry when you rebelled, plus I was still angry about what happened in the Garden, which I perceived at the time to be your doing. I am so sorry for that, my son. I am sorry both for blaming you without even thinking to ask you what happened, and for losing my temper. I didn't understand at the time why you chose to rebel. Not that it matters. I realized even before I learned the truth behind it that I'd taken it too far. Under different circumstances, your rebellion would've deserved punishment, but not the one you received. I'm sorry," God said.

Lucifer's hands shook again, and he looked towards the exit to the room. He was ready to bolt. He didn't know why. He'd waited so long for this day. He'd longed for an apology, all so he could tell the old man what he could do with it. Now that he had said apology, he didn't know how to react. He never actually expected this to happen, even with his father's knowledge of what really happened to him.

God could see how antsy his son was. His boy wasn't ready to deal with this. He needed time to digest it all. "You want to leave. Go ahead. I understand that you need time to think. We will talk again soon."

"But humanity..."

God raised his hand to stop his son. "I have not made a decision on that matter yet, and I assure you that I will finish hearing you out before I make a decision."

Lucifer sighed. He was glad to hear that his father was willing to listen, but the man made it clear that he might decide to end humanity no matter what he said. At the moment, however, Lucifer was free to leave without worrying too much about it. "Fine."

"One more thing, Samael," God called as his son went to leave."

"Lucifer," he said in annoyance as he turned back around.

God sighed. "Alright, I'll try. I wanted to assure you that if you are worried for your detective or her child, you needn't be. I will not take them from you," he promised. Even if he ended up destroying the rest of humanity, he would not take away the happiness his son had found. Chloe Decker was good for his son. He imagined she was a great help in this situation. He would also not take the existence of the mother of his unborn grandson. Again, he had made no decision yet and didn't intend to do so prematurely. He would at least wait until his anger had quelled substantially.

That did make Lucifer feel somewhat better, but he still worried about the lives of everyone else he cared for, like Linda and Miss Lopez. He intended to fight as hard as he could, but he was at least grateful that the detective and the child would be alright. "Thank you, Father."

God nodded and watched as his son headed out of the room.


	15. Chapter 15

Chloe knocked on Linda's front door. She was hoping Linda had heard from Lucifer. The last Chloe knew, Lucifer was going to see her. Chloe had tried to call Lucifer several times since then, but his phone went straight to voicemail. Normally, this wouldn't really be a cause for concern. It had only been about twenty-four hours since she'd talked to him, but Lucifer was extremely fragile right now, and she worried that the knowledge that his father and siblings knew the truth might push him over the edge. Plus, Lucifer never shut his phone off, so that alone concerned Chloe.

Linda opened the door moments later. "Chloe, come on in."

"Hi, Linda," Chloe said as she walked inside. "I was wondering if you'd seen Lucifer. I can't get in touch with him. His phone is going to voicemail. He said he was coming to see you when we last spoke."

Linda chuckled a little. "Yeah, I'd say his cell reception is a bit blocked where he is. He and Amenadiel went to Heaven."

Chloe was extremely surprised to hear that. She had spoken to Lucifer about him possibly returning to Heaven in the future, but she didn't think he'd even consider going this soon. He did not seem to be in any hurry to return to his former home, especially with the knowledge that his father knew the truth about him. "They went to Heaven? I didn't think Lucifer was anywhere near ready for that."

"He wasn't," Linda said. She felt really bad that Lucifer went actually. She knew Lucifer was not ready to face his father or siblings. As his therapist, she should've tried to stop him. The reason she didn't was because she feared possibly being wiped out if God decided to do so. She shouldn't have allowed her fear to rule her like that. Lucifer was her patient. She had a responsibility to look out for him. "He didn't think he had a choice. According to Amenadiel, God is really angry about what happened to Lucifer."

"Good," Chloe said. She knew God was angry after witnessing the unusual weather patterns, and she was glad. God should be angry about what was done to his son. Any parent in the world would be furious to learn about that. Well, any parent who cared about their kid anyway, and she was glad to know that God did care about Lucifer.

"No, Chloe, we're not talking normal outrage from a parent for their child. We're not talking about breaking a few things in a fit of rage, or even just celestial storms. We're talking about wiping out species, specifically ours.

Chloe's eyes widened in disbelief. "God's planning to destroy mankind?" Honestly, she was more surprised than she probably should be. After all, from God's point of view, humanity itself was the problem. Humanity had invented rape, and the first humans had inflicted it on God's own son.

"He's at least considering it, according to Amenadiel. That's why Lucifer went. He's hoping to change his mind," Linda said.

"I guess we should've expected something like this," Chloe said.

"Really? We should've expected that God might kill us all?" Linda asked.

"Yeah. Think about it, Linda. God created humans thinking they'd be a good addition to the world, at least I'm assuming he thought that. The first two human turned out to be rapists and the third, their son, grew to become a murderer,"

"We're not all like that, Chloe," Linda argued.

"I know, but they were our example, at least from God's point of view. They were the first of us. From his point of view, it's easy to see all of us as a mistake, one that caused irreversible damage to his son. He might think it makes the most sense to just illuminate the problem. Believe me, I have no desire to be destroyed, but if it was my child, and it was a species I created that caused harm to her, I don't know what I'd do," Chloe said.

Linda couldn't really argue with that. She was going to be a mother herself soon. She would like to think if someone hurt her child, she wouldn't go after the world for it, but she didn't know. Plus, she supposed it was a little more complicated when you were God himself. Still, she was more than a little unnerved by the knowledge that she could cease to exist at any moment.

Soon, they both heard a knock at the door. It opened seconds later, and Lucifer's voice was soon heard. "Linda?"

"Lucifer?" Linda called back.

Lucifer made it into the living room seconds later. "Detective, I didn't expect to see you here."

"I was looking for you. Are you okay? Linda said you went to Heaven," Chloe said.

"Yes, I just got back," Lucifer said.

"What about Amenadiel?" Linda asked.

"As far as I know, he's still there. I needed to leave. I didn't go looking for him first," Lucifer said,

"Did you see your father?" Linda asked.

Lucifer nodded. "He hasn't made a decision yet. He promises to hear me out before he does."

"Do you need a session?" Linda asked.

Lucifer nodded. That was why he'd gone straight back to Linda's. He desperately wanted to talk about what happened and get advice on what to do next.

Chloe knew that was her cue to leave. Lucifer needed to be alone with Linda to talk things through with her. "Okay, I'm going to go. Lucifer, call me whenever you need to. I don't care what time it is."

"Thank you, Detective. I will make sure to call you soon.

Chloe nodded and headed out.

"Have a seat. Do you want anything to drink?" Linda asked.

Lucifer shook his head and sat down on the couch.

Linda sat down across from him. "Lucifer, I owe you an apology. I should've tried to stop you from leaving. I knew you weren't ready to go back to Heaven. I should've said something. I let my fear get in the way of my responsibility to you."

"Don't be ridiculous, Doctor. I would've gone regardless of anything you said. I had to," Lucifer said.

"No, you didn't. You had no responsibility to try to save us. You are the last person that owes anybody anything in this situation. It isn't your problem," Linda said. As much as she prayed that human life wasn't destroyed, she could very much understand that it was not Lucifer's responsibility to save them. It may not have been every human's fault, but humans were responsible for pretty much all the pain he suffered..

"My father said the same. He was angry that Amenadiel told me of his plans. But I don't regret going to save humanity, and I will continue to fight my father on this issue. Just so you are aware, however, I highly doubt my father will destroy you personally. You're carrying Amenadiel's spawn. I think he'd spare you for that alone," Lucifer told her.

Linda figured she should be comforted by that, and a part of her was, but she was still unnerved by the reality that her entire species could be wiped out at any moment. However, now was not the time to think about that. Right now, Lucifer needed her. "Do you wanna tell me what happened when you went to heaven.

Lucifer fidgeted a bit. "I went to see Adam and Eve when I got there. I don't know why, but I felt I needed to. I shouldn't have gone there."

"What happened" Linda asked.

"Adam t…touched me. I sort of lost it," Lucifer said.

"Did you flash back?" Linda asked. It was common with rape victims, even after many years, especially when the victim never really dealt with it.

Lucifer nodded. "But I came out of it and got away from him. Then my father showed up and pulled me from the room. I lost it again."

Linda nodded. She could see why. Touch that soon after a rape flashback would likely cause a panic attack.

"I acted stupid. I shouldn't have lost it like that. My siblings saw," Lucifer said in a shaky voice.

"Lucifer, you acted badly to touch after a rape flashback, after your rapist's non-consensual touch. That's not stupid. It makes sense that you'd have a bad reaction." Linda told him.

"They saw me," Lucifer whispered.

"No one's going to think less of you because of what you went through. It was not your fault." She said.

"You don't know what they'll think of me," Lucifer said.

Linda decided to change the subject for now. "Do you wanna tell me how talking to your father went?"

"It…It was unexpected. He spoke to me the way he used to, before the rebellion. He said he was sorry," Lucifer told her.

"He did? How did that make you feel. That's something you've always wanted to hear," Linda said.

"I know, but I never expected him to. I never thought my father would admit he was wrong. He's specifically known for being perfect. I never thought he'd admit to anything else."

"So how did it feel to hear it," Linda asked again.

"I don't know. I should've been angry. I should've told him I hated him. That was always my intention. Instead, I just felt overwhelmed. I wanted to leave, so that's what I did. I don't know what to do, Doctor. I feel so overwhelmed. I'm angry, but at the same time, I feel hopeful that my father doesn't hate me,"

"It makes sense that you would feel overwhelmed, and that you'd feel multiple things at once. Your father did you a great injustice, but he's still your father and you want his love. It's not wrong to be angry, nor to contemplate possibly forgiving him," she explained.

"Yes, it is. I shouldn't want to forgive him. He abandoned me," Lucifer said angrily.

"Yes, and I don't deny that that would be difficult to get past, if you wanted to. You shouldn't be ashamed of wanting to get past it. I think it could make your life much better. Carrying so much hate inside you isn't doing you any good. I can help you with it if you want. Would you consider a few sessions here with your father," Linda asked. She could hardly believe her own words as they left her mouth. She had just offered to council actual God. Was she out of her mind? She wasn't even sure how that would work. Yet, it was something she knew both father and son needed if they had any chance of saving their relationship.

Lucifer laughed loudly. "Therapy with Dad? Have you lost it, Doctor. Even if I even thought that was a good idea, he would never agree to it."

"How do you know? You haven't asked him yet. Until a couple of days ago, you thought your father wouldn't care about what Adam and Eve did to you. You also thought he would never apologize for the way he treated you. You were wrong. Maybe you are again," Linda reasoned.

"I'm not," Lucifer insisted.

"If you're so sure, ask. At worst, you can boast about how right you are," Linda said. Again, she couldn't believe she was doing this, but she wanted what was best for Lucifer, and she truly thought this could.

"Fine, I'll ask him, but it's a waste of time. In the meantime, I'm done for now. I want to get home and drink a bottle of Scotch," Lucifer said before standing up.

"Call me if you need to talk some more," Linda said.

Lucifer nodded and headed for the door.


	16. Chapter 16

Chloe led Lucifer into the living room when he came by a couple of days after he returned from Heaven. She was glad to see him. She actually had to resist the urge to go to the penthouse or call him. She wanted to see how he was doing, but she also knew that he needed some space to deal with everything that had been happening lately.

"I hope I'm not bothering you, Detective," Lucifer said as he sat down on the couch.

Chloe sat down beside him. "No, of course not. I'm glad you're here."

"I apologize for not coming to the precinct the last couple of days," he said.

"Lucifer, don't be ridiculous. I didn't expect you to come. You've had a lot to deal with lately. Besides, we haven't had any cases. I've been doing paperwork and cold cases," Chloe said.

"Oh, good. I only missed the boring stuff," Lucifer said.

Chloe chuckled. "Yeah. So, did things go well with Linda the other day? You don't have to tell me any specifics. I was just wondering if it helped you at all.

Lucifer shrugged. "I don't know. She had a completely ridiculous idea."

"Oh, really," Chloe said amused. If Lucifer thought Linda's idea was ridiculous, Chloe was sure it was anything but. Linda's idea was obviously one that would pull Lucifer out of his comfort zone, but probably meant it would ultimately help him.

"She wants me to have a session with Dad, so we can work out our issues," Lucifer said with a laugh.

Chloe's mind was blown for a minute. She had to give it to Linda. The woman was really brave to even suggest psychoanalyzing God. Chloe didn't think she'd be able to do that if it were her. "Wow! Well, that's definitely shocking, but I don't know that I'd call it ridiculous."

"Of course it is, Detective! The idea that my father would ever allow anyone, especially a human, to question his judgment to his face is utterly hilarious. He would never believe that any mortal could teach him anything. That's especially true now that he's considering obliterating most of them," Lucifer said.

"Well, you could ask him. For all you know, he will agree," Chloe said.

"That's what Linda said. I assure you, Detective, I know that he will not do it," Lucifer said confidently.

"Let me ask you something, Lucifer. Do you want him to say no? I think maybe you want to believe he'll say no because you don't want to do it," Chloe said.

Lucifer scowled. "Bloody hell, detective. You're channeling Linda right now. That's exactly something I'd expect her to say."

"Well, I think she'd be right. I think you're the one who would prefer not to do this, and that's understandable. Letting yourself be vulnerable around your dad isn't something that would be easy, but I think it would also be good for you. I think you should at least ask your father to do this with you," Chloe said.

"Well, I have no choice. I already told Linda I would, and I keep my word. But I know that he won't agree," Lucifer said. He was actually counting on. The detective was right. He didn't want to do this. His father was actually good for something for once. He'd say no and save Lucifer from Linda's nagging until he agreed.

"I don't know your dad, but I have seen the results of his anger on your behalf. I think he'll do it if he thinks it's what you need. I mean, he's ready to kill every human out of revenge for you," Chloe said.

"Well, luckily, it's not what I need, so even if you're right, I have nothing to worry about. Also, you should know that you'll be safe if my father does decide to obliterate humanity. He promises that you and your spawn will be safe. I'm quite certain Linda is on that list as well."

"Wow. That surprises me. I figured I'd be one of the first on his list," Chloe said. After the way she'd betrayed Lucifer, she would've thought that God would have no use for her. She wouldn't be able to blame him for that. She was glad to learn she was wrong, and that her and her daughter would be safe.

"Why would you think that, Detective? You're a wonderful person," Lucifer said.

"Kinley," Chloe said. "If I were your dad, I'd consider me one of the first that should be destroyed."

"As far as I know, my father isn't aware of what happened with Kinley, and I have no intention of ever informing him," Lucifer said. It might be wishful thinking, but he hoped his father never learned of William Kinley's intentions because that would likely be the final nail in Humanity's coffin. Just a week ago, Lucifer would've laughed at the idea that his would care that a priest was trying to send him to Hell. It was still hard to believe that his father cared that someone hurt him, but it was hard to argue it when human life was on the line because of what one of them had done to him.

"That sounds best," Chloe said. She was really glad Kinley was locked up, for more than one reason. Lucifer didn't need any more trouble right now, of course, but there was also the fact that God was already thinking of wiping everyone out. If another human tried to hurt his son, it would be the last straw. "I would not blame him for his anger if he knew, but it's probably best not to test an already pissed off, powerful being."

"Agreed. Speaking of, I should go and speak to him now. I'd rather get it over with now," Lucifer said before standing up.

Chloe stood as well. "Good luck. Will I see you at the precinct tomorrow? If you're not ready, it's completely understandable."

"No, I'll be there. I'm ready for things to return to as normal as possible," he said.

"Okay, I'll see you then," Chloe said.

"Have a good day, Detective," Lucifer said before walking towards the door.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Lucifer knocked on the door to his father's quarters. He left for Heaven just after returning to the penthouse after visiting the detective. As he told her, he wanted to get this over with.

"Come in, son," God's voice called out kindly.

Lucifer walked inside and closed the door behind him. He found his father in the living room by a large glass table that held several bottles of alcohol and glasses.

"You did not need to knock. You know you're all allowed in my quarters whenever you wish," God said. The only door he asked his children to knock on beforehand was the one to his office when it was closed.

"I didn't know if that still applied to me," Lucifer said as he looked away from his father.

God sighed sadly. He knew it was his own doing that his son thought that. He knew it was going to take a while for his son to trust him and his love for him. "It does. You're welcome whenever want. Would you like a drink?"

Lucifer snorted at the extremely stupid question. "Always."

God poured his son a glass of Scotch and handed it out to his son.

Lucifer walked over and took the glass from his father before talking a large gulp of it.

"I wasn't expecting you back so soon. I'm glad to see you, of course, but if you're here about humanity, I'd like to give it some more time before we discuss it," God said. He was still too angry to really give the matter rational thought, which is why he had not made any concrete decisions on the matter. His son would be heard out, but God would rather wait until he felt he could rationally do so.

"That's not why I'm here. I wanted to ask you something. I know you'll say no, but I promised I'd ask. So, you can just say no, and I can get this person off my back," Lucifer said before finishing his drink off and putting the glass on the table.

God looked slightly amused by his son. Samael obviously thought he knew him well enough that he would definitely say no to whatever request he had. What his son didn't seem to realize was that there wasn't much he wouldn't give him at this point. Saving humanity was the only request that was in question at this point, and that was because it posed a potential risk. "And what do you want to ask that are so certain I'm going to say no to.

"I have a human friend that I go see to talk about issues I have. That's her job. She's a therapist. She has this insane idea that you and I should see her together to work out our problems," Lucifer said. He chuckled a little at the end.

"You want us to talk with this human in the room? I assume you mean Linda Martin, the mother of Amenadiel's child. I know you talk with her a lot," God said.

Lucifer nodded. "She's sure it's a good idea, but I told her you'd never agree. Just say no so I can tell her I asked."

God could tell that his son wanted him to say no, at least on the surface. He was uncomfortable with the idea of doing this. However, God could also tell what his son probably couldn't, and that was that there was a small part of him that did want to do this, or at least recognized that he should. He wouldn't be asking otherwise.

God couldn't deny being skeptical that a human could somehow help him and his son get past issues that were eons old. It seemed quite out of this woman's depth. He had no doubt she was excellent at what she did, but issues between celestial beings didn't seem like something a human being could handle. However, the fact that his son was here asking for this, even if he didn't believe it was what he wanted, gave God hope. It made him believe that some part of his boy wanted to make things right between them, and God would do anything for that. "Well, I admit that I'm not wild about airing personal information in front of a stranger, particularly a human. Plus, I wonder if a human, even one with celestial knowledge would be able to even focus on anything beyond my presence long enough to be able to do her duty."

"Yes, like I said, I knew you'd say no," Lucifer said.

"I haven't said no, Samael. I'm simply airing a possible obstacle," God said.

"Lucifer," he corrected automatically. "You're going to say no though. You would never consider doing this."

"If I thought it would help you recover or possibly begin to mend things between us, I would. I would be willing to at least try. What do you say?" God asked.

"I… but you were supposed to say no," Lucifer said almost as a whine.

God chuckled a little. "I know you wanted me to say no, but I think you need me to say yes. I think we both need that."

"I don't need that!" Lucifer protested. This was not going the way he'd expected or wanted. It was supposed to be easy. His father was supposed to say no, so he could go back to Linda and blame it all on the man. Why'd he have to choose now to be unpredictable. "I wouldn't think you'd ever consent to letting a human judge you."

"Isn't it said that psychiatrists don't judge. I've heard that about that human profession. Besides, perhaps I need some judging, don't you agree?" God asked.

"Yes," Lucifer said automatically. "I wouldn't think you'd admit it though, or to agree to it by a human. You don't even like humans right now."

"I'd say it's more that I'm not sure the good outweigh the bad. Listen, it can't hurt to give it a try. If it doesn't do any good, it doesn't, and we move on. I'd like to try to make things better between us," God said.

Lucifer scowled. "It seems too late for that."

God shook his head. "I won't accept that. I don't deny that it would be hard, and I know things will likely never be the way they were, but I think we can make things better, and I fully accept that the burden of making it so is on me. I'm the reason things are so broken. I need to try to fix it, and I'd like to start by giving this idea a go. I have my reservations, but I think anything is worth a chance."

Lucifer sighed dramatically. "Fine. Linda will never stop nagging me if I back out now that you've agreed anyway."

"Excellent. You let me know when you want to do it," he said.

Lucifer nodded. "Um, have you decided what you will do about Adam and Eve?" His eyes found his shoes as he asked.

"I will take my time deciding their fate. I'd like you to be there when I finally do put them on trial. I think it would be good for you," God said.

Lucifer nodded. He would be there. He wanted to see him punished. He wanted to witness their suffering. "Putting them on trial means you'll have to tell the others."

"Not until I have your permission. It can wait until you're ready."

"I'll never be ready. Go ahead and tell them. I just don't want to be here when you do," Lucifer said. He shuddered just at the idea of it. He didn't want his siblings to ever know, let alone to be there when they were told.

"No, I would never ask that of you, son," God assured him.

"I'm going to go now. I did what I came to, and you were utterly unhelpful," Lucifer said with an annoyed look.

God smiled. "I'll see you soon.

Lucifer's only reply was to head for the door.


	17. Chapter 17

God once again sat with all his children gathered around a conference table. He decided to waste no time after his son had given him permission to tell the others. It wasn't a conversation he looked forward to, but he decided it was best to get it over with. "Thank you all for coming. I apologize for having to take you from your duties once again. I know you all have had questions regarding recent events, and I thank you for your patience. Now, I must prepare you before we begin. What you will hear today will be very difficult. It will make most, if not all of you, very angry. Believe me when I say I can relate to that."

God looked at his children and saw that they all looked really worried. Well, with the exception of Michael and Amenadiel, both of whom looked very somber, having already known what he planned to discuss with them today. God would like to assure his children that things weren't as bad as they feared, but he couldn't. They were in fact worse. "I know you all felt my rage when I learned about what I'm about to tell you, and I know it worried you. I apologize, but I could not share this information without permission from Samael."

"Is this about why you allowed him to come home?" Raphael asked.

"Yes and no. It encouraged me to ask sooner, but I had already seen my mistake in banishing Samael, and had plans to end it," God explained.

"Mistake? He rebelled," his son, Hariel, said, to which many of the others nodded in agreement.

"We are not here to discuss Samael's rebellion," God said sternly.

"Aren't we?" Michael asked without thinking. "I apologize, Father. I just meant that it's certainly connected to what you're about to say.

"There's no need to apologize, son. You make a good point. I'll rephrase. We are not here for any of you to judge your brother. I will have none of that. I suppose we're getting off subject a bit. A lot has been brought to my attention recently. It seems that I have made many misjudgments lately, both regarding humanity and Samael," God said.

"This is about the souls too then. You said last time that it had to do with your anger," Gabriel said.

"Yes. As I said before, I learned of souls here that should've gone straight to Hell. They did not because they had no remorse for their actions. I became aware of this by discovering that Adam and Eve should never have been able to enter after death," he said.

There were gasps all around the room. "The first souls? Destined for Hell?" Raphael asked in disbelief.

"What does that say about the rest?" Yael, a young looking woman with shoulder length brown hair and pale skin, said from next to Michael.

"Humans have always been terrible creatures," Remiel agreed.

"What have they done, Father? It can't just by the fact that they've sinned that upsets you so much. And what does it have to do with Samael? It's not about the Garden, is it?" Gabriel asked. Surely that wasn't enough of a sin to get the first two souls sent to Hell. Yes, they'd gone against God's instructions, but even if that was enough to get them into Hell, it wasn't really their fault. They were tempted by Samael.

"It is, but not in the way you're thinking, son. The events in the Garden of Eden was not how any of us perceived them. The truth is a lot darker, and it will be hard for all of you to hear. When Samael went into the Garden, defiance was the furthest thing from his mind. I believe he was merely curious. That is my fault. I should've been more open about my project. If I had, I may have been able to prevent what happened to him," God said somberly. He would never forgive himself for what happened to his son. Not only had he created Adam and Eve, but he'd kept them so secret in the beginning that they were bound to attract his son's attention.

God took a deep breath before continuing. "When I found out the manner of the interaction that was taking place in the Garden with Samael, I jumped to the wrong conclusion. Humanity had barely begun. I didn't realize the things that they would be capable of doing because of Free Will. What actually occurred in the Garden had never happened before. Adam was the first human to ever do something so depraved."

Azrael began to feel sick to her stomach. Out of all her siblings, she'd been around humans and Earth the most. She knew what they were capable of. Well, her siblings probably did too, but she'd actually seen the result of it. She'd seen what it did to humans who survived what she believed her father was alluding to, and the result of those who didn't survive it, as many didn't survive the encounter. She did not want to imagine that happening to her favorite big brother, but the more her father spoke, the more she got that feeling.

God decided it was best to just say it this point. He'd delayed actually saying it long enough. "Samael did not tempt anyone in the Garden. He was assaulted, first by Adam, and later by Eve as well. They forced themselves on him.

Azrael started crying, as her suspicions were confirmed. Her big brother was the victim of rape. It was worse than that though. He wasn't just Adam and Eve's victim. He was all of Heaven's too. They'd all judged him for tempting Eve. Well, Azrael didn't because she'd been too young at the time to understand, but everyone else had.

Right next to her, Gabriel pulled Azrael into his arms. "Are… Are you sure, Father?"

"I'm afraid so, son," God said.

"No, he must be lying," Remiel said.

"Shut up, Remiel," Michael snarled.

Azrael pulled out of her brother's arms and glared at her sister. "Lucifer doesn't lie!"

"Remiel's right. This can't be true. The Devil is trying to deceive us," Raguel on the other side of Gabriel. To a human, he would appear to be in his late twenties. He had short red hair and blue eyes.

"That's enough!" God said in a slightly raised tone. "I have already made it clear that Samael will not be judged by any of you! He is not lying. As it happens, I did not come by this information from Samael. The information was brought to Amenadiel's attention by Eve herself. I confirmed it by viewing Adam's memories. Not that I needed that confirmation. Azrael is right. Samael doesn't lie."

"This is why a few of us saw him break down by the cells, isn't it," Raziel asked. He had dark, almost black, curly hair and blue eyes. He looked to be in his late teens to early twenties.

"But no human would be any match for us. Why would he not defend himself?" Remiel asked.

"We weren't allowed to hurt humans," Gabriel said sadly. He could only imagine that that was what his brother had been thinking. It was the only explanation that made sense.

"But surely he would not be punished for defending himself," Remiel said as she eyed her father.

"Of course not, but he was young, and I had not made that clear. I didn't think I needed to. I never imagined something like this would happen," God said sadly. Again, he was reminded of the ways he could've prevented this.

Everyone was quiet for a few moments, taking the information in. God watched the different emotions on his children's faces. They ranged from shock, to sorrow, to rage. Many seemed to have all of that on their faces at once.

"Is this why he rebelled?" Raziel asked in a shaky voice.

"Yes, it has much, if not all, to do with it," God said.

"They should die for this! No, they're already dead! They should be annihilated! They are filth!" Gabriel snarled.

"Yes! They have harmed one of us. They need to suffer!" Remiel added. She was not the emotional type, but she considered herself to be protective of celestials, and despite the fact that they were not close, it was still her brother that those people had harmed.

There were many nods and voices of agreement.

God was pleased to see that his children had seen past any anger they might have had for their brother and were instead seemed ready to stand behind him. "They will suffer. That I assure all of you. I understand your anger. I too wanted to destroy them. I nearly did, but it was brought to my intention that that would not be fair to Samael. He deserves Justice. He deserves to see them suffer. He will get that, but as I said, these monsters will suffer greatly.

"What about the rest of humanity. We've removed the unworthy souls from Heaven, but I don't think that's good enough. None of them are worthy of even existing, let along residing here," Gabriel said.

"Gabriel, that's not true," Amenadiel said.

"Yes, it is! Look at what they've done!" Gabriel yelled.

"Not all humans are bad!" Azrael protested.

"They all stem from Adam and Eve! How can we expect anything different of them than the first two!" Raguel asked.

"Lucifer does not want them killed!" Azrael yelled. No, he hadn't exactly said that to her, but she knew it was the truth. He chose to live among them, despite what happened to him.

"No, he doesn't," God said. "Listen, I won't deny that I'm struggling with the question of humanity's worth myself, but that is not what is important right now. Right now, your brother is needs to be the priority. As I'm sure you can all imagine, he's struggling right now, especially since realizing that everyone would learn about what happened to him."

"What can we do for him? How do we help him?" Raphael asked. He was usually the first one to speak up about how to help someone heal, but this was different. He didn't know how to heal emotional wounds.

"The first thing you do is refrain from pitying him. He doesn't want that. In fact, I think it's one of his fears. I think the best thing you can do is be there for him. Let him now that you're here to help him however he needs, but wait for him to seek you out. It may be a little while before he's ready to face anyone. Give him space. And I'm sure most of you are aware of this, but he prefers to be called Lucifer. I suggest you all try to use it. I will be trying as well," God said. Admittedly, he hadn't done so well with that thus far. It was hard to call his son something other than the name he'd used for eons.

They all nodded.

"If no one else has anything they want to say, you're all free to go. If you have nothing essential to do, you may take the day off from your duties. I know I've put a lot on you today," God said.

They all got up and began filing out of the room.


	18. Chapter 18

Linda passed her office in panic. It was mere minutes before her session with Lucifer and… God. "What was I thinking? What made me think I could counsel God? Sure, I counsel the Devil every week, but this is God. I am about to literally question God's parenting skills. I could be damned within the hour. Although, given his opinion on humans right now, that could happen anyway."

Linda's rant to herself was cut off when she heard the door open and then close. She tensed before turning around to see that it was Lucifer, and then relaxed.

"I can't believe I agreed to this," Lucifer grumbled as he came in and plopped down on the couch.

"That makes two of us," Linda muttered to herself.

"This is a waste of time. You and my father are both insane for thinking therapy can fix things between God and the Devil," Lucifer ranted.

Linda forced herself to pull it together and remember why she suggested. She still wondered if she'd regret this, but she'd suggested it to help a father and his son. That was how she had to look at it. She needed to set aside the supernatural aspect and think of it as just helping another father and son. "I've done family counseling before. It can be very effective when the parties participate."

Lucifer snorted. "Yes, well, you've never handled issues like ours before. I doubt any other patient you counseled was sent to Hell by his father."

Just then there was a knock on the door

Linda stiffened in nervousness, but took a deep breath to calm herself and prepare herself. It wouldn't do to pass out in front of God before they even got started. "Come in."

Lucifer turned in time to watch his father enter the room. He watched as the man smiled at them. "You knocked."

"Of course. I expect you to knock when entering my office. Why would I not give Doctor Martin the same courtesy."

Linda could do nothing but stare at God awestruck. It didn't matter that she'd known he was coming. She still wasn't prepared. He appeared normal enough, but she knew better. It was like she could sense the power coming off of him.

God smiled at Linda as he approached her. "Hello, Doctor. It is wonderful to meet you."

Linda mindlessly shook his hand as she kept staring at him. "H…Hello."

"I had hoped to meet you soon, though I hadn't imagined it would be this way, however, I'm honored all the same," God said.

"You are? I…I didn't think you thought much of humans currently," Linda said as she began to pull out of her trance slightly.

"Oh, you are different, my dear. You're the mother of my grandson, and you've been a wonderful friend to my sons. I'm sure you've heard of the dilemma I find myself in, but let me assure you, I will cause you no harm," God promised.

"Just the rest of humanity," Lucifer mumbled, though he knew his father would hear him.

God turned back to his son and walked towards him. "That's a conversation for another time, I think. We are here for a different reason," he said as he sat down next to his son.

Linda cleared her throat and took her seat across from father and son. "Yes, we should get started. Would either of you like to start?"

"This is stupid. It won't solve anything," Lucifer said.

"Well, not if you don't want it to, but I think you do. You wouldn't have come if you didn't want to try to resolve things with your father," Linda said.

Lucifer scowled. "Why would I want that? He sent me to Hell!"

"Samuel, I understand…"

"Lucifer!" he cut off sharply.

"Alright, I'm sorry, but you need to give me a little time to get used to it. I've only ever called you by the name I gave it," God said.

Lucifer didn't say anything in response.

"Listen, I understand why you're so angry. I've done you a disservice, many in fact. I've made so many mistakes. I'm here because I want to try to fix them, son. I'm very sorry. When I found out what was happening in the Garden, I should've…"

"I don't want to talk about that! This isn't about that," Lucifer said.

"Lucifer, I'm not sure that's true," Linda told him. "What happened to you has affected a lot of your life. I have no doubt that it has had one of the biggest impacts on many of your relationships, including the one with your father. I don't think one can be discussed without discussing the other."

"I don't want to discuss it," Lucifer said with a lot of anguish in his voice.

"She's right, Sa… Lucifer. I think our relationship started to decline long before you even considered rebelling. It started with those two… animals. I created them and I put them under my protection without realizing what they were capable of. That's when all of it started," God said sadly.

"Do you blame your father for what happened to you, Lucifer?" Linda asked.

"Sometimes," Lucifer said after a few moments of silence. "I shouldn't. I know he didn't know."

"But I created them. Worse, I instilled such fear in you regarding them that you felt you couldn't come to me when they began hurting you," God said. He did blame himself, and he felt he deserved that blame. He should've been more careful. He should've been sure his children would be safe from the things he was creating.

"Adam said you'd blame me. I had no reason to believe anything different. I was confused. I didn't really know what was happening to me or whose fault it was. It felt like it must have been mine. Adam kept saying it was," Lucifer said as he looked down at his shaking hands.

"Lucifer, he said that to control you. He said it because he knew if you did tell anyone, he would've been the one to suffer the consequences," Linda said.

"Would it have been?" Lucifer asked, gazing at his father just briefly. Even now, with his father contemplating the end of humanity of what happened to him, it was hard to imagine his father not blaming him for it all.

"Yes. I would never knowingly allow anyone to hurt you. I may not have understood myself at the time what was happening even if you'd told me. This is something that would've even been foreign to me, but if you'd told that what they were doing was hurting you, they would've suffered," God assured him.

"Then it's my fault, not yours," Lucifer said quietly.

"No! Don't you ever think that! Look at me," God instructed.

Lucifer turned his head towards him, but couldn't bring himself to look his father in the eyes. He was ashamed. He always had been. A part of him had always blamed himself, even though a part of him also blamed his father, and even as a bigger part of him blamed Adam and Eve. He still felt that he should've done something different.

"Son, you can blame anyone else you like, but don't you ever blame yourself. If you didn't feel you could come to me, that was my fault and theirs. I'm sorry. I assumed that you children couldn't possibly be in danger from humans because you were so much more durable. You had strength they didn't. That's why I made the order that you weren't to harm them. I didn't think they could ever hurt you. It didn't occur to me that my orders would've made you so frightened that you felt you couldn't defend yourself," God said with regret laced in his voice.

"I figured you cared more for them," Lucifer said.

"No, son. They were nothing compared to you. I love you very much.

Lucifer began to get angry. His father telling him he loved him was something he'd waited eons for, but it seemed untrue, and Lucifer hated lies. "Don't tell me that. It's a lie! You sent me to Hell!"

God sighed sadly. He would always regret that choice. He regretted it before he realized the true reason for his son's rebellion. Now, he hated himself even more for it. "I didn't send you to Hell because I didn't love you. I was very angry, and I decided to punish you harshly in that anger instead of allowing it to dissipate before making a decision, as I should've. I am so sorry. You didn't deserve to be punished that way. I know now that you didn't deserve to be punished at all, but even before I knew the truth, I realized I'd been too harsh. I should've realized that much sooner than I did. I admit, my stubbornness didn't allow me too for quite a while. When I did realize it, I didn't know how to approach you."

"Is that why you put the detective in my path?" Lucifer asked with some anger in his voice.

"That was never what you thought it was, Sam… Lucifer. I didn't have Chloe Decker created to manipulate you. It wasn't about changing you, nor about forcing you to be with someone. Anything you've felt for Chloe Decker was what you chose to feel. Same for her. I simply wanted to give you some happiness. I hoped she could help you, but I never had any hand in how your relationship might progress. I simply wanted to create someone who would see you for you," God explained.

When Lucifer stopped to think about it, that actually made sense. The detective didn't see him the same way that everyone else did. She didn't fall for his charms, nor was she affected by his desire gift. She'd always seemed to look at him differently than everyone else. That was what had originally drawn him to her.

"I made many mistakes, son. I reacted badly to your rebellion. I'm sorry," God said.

"All I wanted was to make my own choices," Lucifer said bitterly.

"Why wasn't he allowed to have Free Will?" Linda suddenly asked God. "I think Lucifer needs to understand why you were so against it when you freely gave it to us. I think it has a lot to do with why he thinks you value humanity over your children."

God sighed. He did owe his son an answer to that. He should've actually told him when he started rebellion, although, God wasn't sure it would've made a difference. His son rebelled because he was in pain, and likely because he was also afraid of something terrible happening to him again. "This is going to sound very callous, Doctor Martin. Allow me to apologize in advance. Free Will was an experiment, so was humanity for that matter. I wasn't sure if either project would succeed. I'm still unsure of that, to be frank."

"So, you were worried I'd ruin your experiment?" Lucifer asked angrily.

"I didn't say that, Lucifer. Please stop jumping to conclusions," God said in a slightly stern tone. "I created humanity with the goal of free will in mind."

"Free will was the real experiment then?" Linda asked. She was trying hard not to think about the fact that her entire species were nothing more than test subjects, but it was very difficult. People in church were taught that God created them because he loved them. That didn't seem to be the case.

"Yes. Again, I apologize. Please understand that this was before any human had actually been created. I don't mean to be cruel, but humans were nothing more than idea at the time, one I hoped would be successful, but one that I hadn't had a big reason to concern myself with long term. My opinion changed over time," God explained. Of course, his opinion changed many times, but until recently, he'd wanted the best for humanity. He wanted them to continue on because he did care for many of them. Now, he was no longer sure if he wanted that because of the damage that was done to his son by them.

Linda couldn't really judge God for that, even though his words did unnerve her. Humans experimented all the time. It was just that God had made people his experiment and his test subjects. But to him, it wasn't that simple. Humans were entities that he hadn't yet created or had barely created. He had not yet seem them as people. "Go on."

"Let me be clear. Every creature is born with the capacity for free will. You had it, Lucifer. I just tried to keep you from using it. My law was all you knew, so there was no reason to seek anything else out. Not until humans were given it anyway. As I said, choice was an experiment. When you asked to be given it, it was very new. It wasn't something I was willing to test on my own children," he continued.

Lucifer was speechless. He never really considered that his father might have a real reason for denying him free will, other than that he preferred humans to them and didn't want them to have the same gifts he gave humanity. He realized now that he never even really bothered to find out why his father denied him his request. He'd been too angry, and it wasn't just about free Will. He'd been angry since the Garden. "So, you were protecting us."

"Yes, son. That's all I've ever wanted. I wanted to protect you. I didn't realize I'd already failed," God said sadly. He risked putting a hand on his son's shoulder, and was relieved when Lucifer didn't pull away.

Lucifer didn't know what else to say. There was so much that his mind was trying to process and it was beginning to overwhelm him. He'd just learned so much that he hadn't considered before.

Linda could tell that Lucifer was at his limit. He needed time to process what was said today. "I think we should stop now. I think a lot of progress was made today, and you should both think about it. Would you be willing to come back to talk again?"

God nodded. "If my son agrees, I will gladly come back. I was skeptical, but I believe coming was beneficial."

"I guess," was all Lucifer said. It was all he could say. His mind was far away right now.

"Okay. I'll call Lucifer later to set up an appointment," she said.

Father and son got up and both headed for the door.


End file.
